Long Term Thermo-mechanical Prediction of Banana Stem Particulate Reinforced PVC Composite as Piping Material

Abstract

A banana particulate reinforced polyvinyl chloride (PVC) composite was developed with considerabley low cost materials having an overall light-weight and good mechanical properties. The specimen composite material was produced with the banana (stem) particulate as reinforcement using compression molding. The composition with optimum mechanical property (42MPa) was determined at 8, 72 and 20% formulation of banana stem particulates (reinforcement), PVC (matrix) and Kankara clay (filler) respectively with corresponding density of 1.24g/cm³ and tensile strength of 42MPa. Thermal analyses of the composited showed that the thermal stability of PVC was increased by 27.8% and is thermally stable up to a temperature of 370ºC. It was established that Long term TTS (time-temperature-superposition) performance prediction increases with decrease in operating temperature with the best determined at lowest considered temperature of 40ºC having a corresponding reduced stiffness of 1GPa at an estimated period in excess of 100 years of usage. The composite could be used as a transportation and distribution piping material for water (to domestic houses) and fuel (to city centers) where ambient temperature does not exceed 50ºC.