Physico-mechanical and micro-structural analysis of chicken feather particles reinforced rubber seed oil based polyurethane composites

Abstract

Chicken feather particles reinforced rubber seed oil based polyurethane composites were produced and the physico-mechanical and microstructural analyses were studied. Casting method was used to produce the composites with varied weights of Chicken feather particles from 5 to 25wt% in steps of 5 wt%. The composites produced were analyzed for hardness, impact strength, tensile strength, density and water absorption properties according to ASTM standards. The density and impact strength were observed to decrease with increase in percentage weight of the chicken feather particles and this was attributed to the fact that the feathers have lower density than RSO-Polyurethane. Tensile strength and hardness of the composites were found to decrease at the intial stage (0 to 10 wt%) and later started to increase with percentage increase(15 to 25 wt%) of reinforment added. The microstructure reveals that there was a reasonable uniform distribution and bonding of chicken feather particles in the RSO-Polyurethane matrix.

Citation

Omorogbe, O., Yawas, D., Dagwa, I., Bakare, I. and Isa, M. (2013), "Physico-mechanical and micro-structural analysis of chicken feather particles reinforced rubber seed oil based polyurethane composites", World Journal of Engineering, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 343-352. https://doi.org/10.1260/1708-5284.10.4.343