Using additives to enhance the compressive strength of particulate composites

Ahmed N. Rashid; Yasir. H.  Ali; Ahmed S.  Abdalaziz

doi:10.6180/jase.202601_29(1).0020

Using additives to enhance the compressive strength of particulate composites

Ahmed N.Rashid¹, Yasir. H. Ali²This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and Ahmed S. Abdalaziz¹

¹Mechanical Engineering Dept. College of engineering, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq

²Department of Power Mechanics Techniques Engineering, Technical College Mosul, Northern Technical University, Mosul, Iraq

Received: August 27, 2024
Accepted: April 4, 2025
Publication Date: May 10, 2025

Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.6180/jase.202601_29(1).0020

The primary aim of this study is to improve the compressive strength (CS) of the particulate composites. This is accomplished by mixing a polymer base with various additives, such as sawdust (SD), aluminium (Al), and iron (Fe) particles. The necessary composites are produced by adding varying weight percentages (wt%), i.e., 5, 10, and 15% weight-by-weight (w/w) of the additive compounds. In this study, the researchers employed a hand-moulding approach to produce a compressed composite. The experimental findings indicated improved CS value of some of the composites. These findings were influenced by factors such as the type of additives, density, wt% of the additive, and the properties of particle dispersion within the polymer. It was noted that when 15% (w/w) of Fe particles were added to the compound, the CS value improved by 23%. Despite an excellent dispersion of particles within the polymer, a minimum improvement in CS of 12% was observed after the addition of 10 wt% of SD particles.

Keywords: compressive strength; particulate composites; mixing a polymer; sawdust; aluminum; iron

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