APPLICATION OF TAGUCHI FOR OPTIMIZATION OF MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF HYBRID REINFORCED ULTRA-HIGH DENSITY POLYETHYLENE COMPOSITE
The human hard armour protection is a very important device in the hands of military and para-military in Nigeria. The problems of insecurity in almost all parts of the country have led to loss of lives and properties. The existing hard body armours have problem of weight which causes fatique to the wearer after a long distance. This research has considered using hybrid composite which has the advantage of light weight, in addition to high mechanical properties. The quest for development of Human Hard Body Armour protection, a hybrid composite from the 6cm of (3-D) woven mat Carbon Fibre and particulates: 0.075µm Metal Chips (Mild Steel), 0.075µm of Aluminium Silicate (Glass), 0.040µm Alumina (Ceramic) were the reinforcements while the smelted ultra-high density Polyethylene was the matrix. The percentage by weight of Polyethylene (matrix) was varied from 44wt% to 76wt% for optimization. The samples specimen of composites were produced for Mechanical property tests ; Tensile Strength of (10x15x100)mm3, Impact Strength of (10x10x100)mm3, Flexural Strength of (30x30x100)mm3, and Hardness Strength of (30x30)mm2. The experimental results showed that the highest Tensile Strength of 113MPa, Impact Strength of 2.855J, Flexural Strength of 122.517MPa and Hardness Strength of 67Hv were obtained. The Design of Experiment was carried out using Taguchi which involved Orthogonal Array of 25 runs (L25), four factors and five levels. The Grey Relational Analysis (Minitab 16) combined the optimal values of the Tensile strength 10, 6, 5, 3, Flexural strength 10, 9, 9, 4, Impact strength 10, 8, 6, 4 and Hardness strength 20, 8, 5, 3 to single value for the production of Human Hard Body Armour Protection by computing, normalizing, calculating, analyzing, selecting and verifying the optimal parameters. It was noted that the optimal value from the Grey Relational Analysis was 10, 6, 5, 4. It was noted that Carbon Fibre has 96%, the highest contribution to impact energy for the Human Hard Body Armour Protection. Carbon fibre is recommended for the production of body armour with addition to particulates.
Authors : Agbo, S., Sumaila, M. and Umaru, S.
Category : Open Access Volume (Issue) : 8(2) Date Uploaded : 28th January 2023