The effect of various WT% of polypropylene on the hardness and anti-friction behavior of Al-filled polypropylene

Abstract

This project is the study of hardness and anti-friction behavior of Al-filled polypropylene. Sample preparation involves sand casting and double screw extrusion to get finer size of polypropylene. The castings were done by inserting polypropylene in the mould cavity and some in crucible for stirred because the volume of polypropylene much bigger than volume of mould cavity. The weight percentage are Al-0%PP, Al- 4%PP, Al-7%PP and Al-10%PP. After sample preparation, these samples undergo Vickers hardness test to determine its hardness value. The abrasive wear test done to determine the anti-friction behavior of the aluminium alloys. Meanwhiles, presence of the carbon phase determine by SEM morphology and EDS testing. The hardness value increasing accordingly with higher polypropylene weight percentage which are 88.38, 102.02, 110.16 and 121.68 HV respectively for for Al-0%PP, Al-4%PP, Al-7%PP, and Al-10%PP. Wear rate decrease with increasing content of polypropylene in cast aluminium. Al-10%PP have the lowest wear rate with 0.0045× 10−6 g/mm. In this research, carbon extracted from polypropylene increase hardness and enhance antifriction behavior of aluminium alloys but also increase the porosity.