Spray deposition of cork reinforced polyester
Name
712950839-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
7.65 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
dc033706f076d38fbc1ae8c837876527
Author(s)
Pope, Benjamin J
Advisor(s)
David R. Wallace.
Date Issued
2010
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The objective of this research is to enable large part or high volume manufacturing processes to make consumer or industrial products from a cork reinforced polymer composite, similar to current applications of glass reinforced polyester. The low initial investment and high flexibility of the spray lay-up process make it an attractive candidate to study. A spray lay-up apparatus was successfully constructed and employed in manufacturing parts from a hybrid material composed of granulated cork, chopped glass strand, and a polyester matrix. The material was tested for tensile and flexural properties following relevant ASTM standards. The material was found to have a tensile strength of 4.4 MPa and tensile modulus of 850 MPa. The flexural strength and modulus were 9 MPa and 830 MPa, respectively. Adding a fiberglass skin to the cork hybrid significantly improved its flexural strength. Additionally, a small turbine blade prototype was created as a proof of concept. It is recommended that further work focus on optimizing the hybrid material's properties, re-designing and optimizing the apparatus used for the spray-up process, and demonstrating material viability by manufacturing a cross section of a large turbine blade.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2010.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-57).
Subjects
Mechanical Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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