The Department of Materials Engineering at the University of Technology awarded a master’s degree to the student Tammar Falah Mohi , Department of Materials Engineering/ University of Technology, for his thesis  titled  (Investigation of Hybrid Composites reinforced with Natural Materials for Industrial Applications)

The discussion was held on the discussions hall / building C / Department of Materials Engineering / University of Technology on Thursday  (06/10/2022). The discussion committee was formed of the teaching staff listed:

The dissertation was scientifically evaluated by Prof. Dr Ali Hussein Muhammad/ Al-Nahrain University/ College of Mechanical Engineering, and Prof. Dr. Zainab Nayef Rashid/ University of Technology/ Department of Applied Sciences, and linguistically by Prof. Jamal Jalal Dawood/ University of Technology/ Department of Materials Engineering.,.

The discussion of the dissertation was conducted in a scientific atmosphere and a master's degree with grade of pass was awarded to the student after the completion of all the corrections that have been decided by the examiners.

Abstract

In this study, hybrid composite materials were manufactured using the hand lay-up technique, where epoxy was used as a matrix material and two types of reinforcement were glass fibers and particles of natural material (tamarind seed particles (TS)(  and coffee bean particles (CS)). The mechanical and physical properties of these composite materials were studied. Also, these materials were characterized by using Fourier Transform Infrared FTIR, Differential Scanning Calorimetry DSC, and Field Emission scanning electron microscopy FE-SEM. Because of the natural material's high moisture sorption, it was chemically treated with (NaOH).

The results showed that the mechanical  properties improved by increasing the weight percentages of TS and CS, when compared with pure epoxy and (epoxy +glass fiber), and the percentage (20 wt%) of both natural particles.

physical propertites improved by increasing the weight percentages of TS and CS (density, thermal conductivity, and acoustic insulation)

DSC characterization revealed an increased glass transition temperature value with increasing both natural particle weight fractions.

From FE-SEM results, it is clear that the fracture pattern became ductile after adding chemically treated natural particles. Furthermore, these treated naturals led to increased surface roughness and interfacial adhesion of hybrid composites, in addition to homogenous dispersion of particles within the matrix.