Effect of mussel shell reinforcement on mechanical and tribological behavior of polyphenylene sulfide composites

Abstract

Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) is commonly used in automobile industry, aeronautics and space electrical–electronic components, and mechanical applications. Mussel shell wastes could be an economical reinforcement alternative for polymer-based composites. Which also gets out the environmental trouble of mussel shell wastes. To examine the effect of mussel shell wastes as reinforcing material, particulate mussel shell wastes were incorporated into the PPS matrix in different mass ratios (0, 1, 3, 5, and 10 wt%). Materials were characterized with ball on disc, scratch, solid particle erosion, hardness, and tensile tests. According to tensile test results, mussel shell reinforcement has a positive effect on elastic modulus and tensile strength of PPS. Moreover, mussel shell filling increased the adhesive wear resistance of PPS. According to scratch test results, scratch hardness value was increased, and residual penetration depth was decreased by mussel shell reinforcement. Furthermore, adding mussel shells in PPS increased the cutting volume value and the scratch behavior of PPS turn from ductile to brittle. Mussel shell waste supplementation increased solid particle erosion resistance at low particle impact angles but decreased it at right angles and those close to right angles. The erosive wear resistance of the PPS samples increased at 30° impingement angle by mussel shell reinforcement. The plastic deformation ability of PPS was decreased by adding mussel cell. As a result of this study, it is seen that usage of mussel shell wastes could be possible in the PPS matrix as a reinforcement material.