Optimization of Mechanical Characteristics of Low-priced Breadfruit Peel Waste by Impregnating Low Density Polyethylene for Production Printer Components

Abstract

The objective of this paper is the optimization of mechanical characteristics of low-priced breadfruit peel (BRP) waste by impregnating low density polyethylene (LPDE) for production printer components using appropriate standard procedure. The BRP at particle size (A) and fiber content (B) without modification was combined with LDPE melted and molded by injection molding machine. The characteristics of the BRP-LDPE composite that were evaluated are tensile strength (TS), tensile modulus (TSM), flexural strength (FS), flexural modulus (FM), Brinell’s hardness (BH), impact strength (IM) and water absorption resistance (W_AR). The data obtained for the factors, A, B and the responses; TS, TSM, FS, FSM, BH, IS, and W_AR of BRP-LDPE composite, respectively were inserted into design of experiment software using central composite design (CCD) package of response surface methodology (RSM) models. The outcomes obtained at critical optimal situation noticeable to be; A, B, TS, TSM, FS, FSM, BH, IS, and W_AR were 180 µm (80 mesh), 14.39 wt%, 6.036284 MPa, 0.315798 GPa, 18.62651 MPa, 0.31388 GPa, 151.8932 Pa, 43.04614 KJ/m² and 4.830519 %, respectively.   With deviation of errors between experimental and CCD models differs by 2.232%.  The R²>98.3, Ad.R²>96.9 and Pr.R²>98.3 with errors of the entire process to be below 10 %. This is a confirmed indication that RSM models are very good for prediction of the characteristics of BRP-LDPE composite for primer components.