Faculty Publications
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Item Processing of cenosphere/HDPE syntactic foams using an industrial scale polymer injection molding machine(Elsevier Ltd, 2016) Bharath Kumar, B.R.; Doddamani, M.R.; Zeltmann, S.E.; Gupta, N.; Ramesh, M.R.; Ramakrishna, S.Rapid production of high quality components is the key to cost reduction in industrial applications. The present work is the first attempt of manufacturing syntactic foams, hollow particle filled lightweight composites, using an industrial scale injection molding machine. High density polyethylene (HDPE) is used as the matrix material and fly ash cenospheres are used as the filler. Development of syntactic foams with cenospheres serves dual purpose of beneficial utilization of industrial waste fly ash and reduction in the cost of the component. The pressure and temperature used in the injection molding process are optimized to minimize fracture of cenospheres and obtain complete mixing of cenospheres with HDPE. The optimized parameters are used for manufacturing syntactic foams with 20, 40 and 60 wt.% cenospheres. With increasing cenosphere content, density and strength reduce and modulus increases. Surface modification of constituents results in rise in strength with increasing filler content. A theoretical model based on a differential scheme is used to estimate the properties of cenospheres by conducting parametric studies because of inherent difficulties in direct measurement of cenosphere properties. The potential for using the optimized injection molding process is demonstrated by casting several industrial components. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.Item Effect of particle surface treatment and blending method on flexural properties of injection-molded cenosphere/HDPE syntactic foams(Springer New York LLC barbara.b.bertram@gsk.com, 2016) Bharath Kumar, B.R.; Doddamani, M.R.; Zeltmann, S.E.; Gupta, N.; Uzma; Gurupadu, S.; Sailaja, R.R.N.The present work on cenosphere/high-density polyethylene (HDPE) syntactic foams aims at understanding the effect of surface treatment of cenospheres and functionalization of HDPE on flexural properties. Cenospheres are treated with silane, and HDPE is functionalized with 10 % dibutyl maleate. Effects of mechanical and Brabender mixing methods are also studied. Flexural test specimens are cast with 20, 40, and 60 wt% of cenospheres using injection molding. The flexural modulus and strength are found to increase with increasing cenosphere content. Particle breakage increases with the cenosphere content, and the measured properties show increased dependence on processing method. Brabender mixing resulted in 70 and 41 % higher modulus and strength for 60 wt% cenospheres than HDPE. Modulus of syntactic foams is predicted by two theoretical models. Bardella–Genna model provides close estimates for syntactic foams having 20 and 40 wt% cenospheres, while predictions are higher for higher cenosphere content, likely due to particle breakage during processing. The uncertainty in the properties of cenospheres due to defects contributes to the variation in the predicted values. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.Item Quasi-Static and High Strain Rate Compressive Response of Injection-Molded Cenosphere/HDPE Syntactic Foam(Minerals, Metals and Materials Society 184 Thorn Hill Road Warrendale PA 15086, 2016) Bharath Kumar, B.R.; Singh, A.K.; Doddamani, M.R.; Luong, D.D.; Gupta, N.High strain rate compressive properties of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix syntactic foams containing cenosphere filler are investigated. Thermoplastic matrix syntactic foams have not been studied extensively for high strain rate deformation response despite interest in them for lightweight underwater vehicle structures and consumer products. Quasi-static compression tests are conducted at 10?4 s?1, 10?3 s?1 and 10?2 s?1 strain rates. Further, a split-Hopkinson pressure bar is utilized for characterizing syntactic foams for high strain rate compression. The compressive strength of syntactic foams is higher than that of HDPE resin at the same strain rate. Yield strength shows an increasing trend with strain rate. The average yield strength values at high strain rates are almost twice the values obtained at 10?4 s?1 for HDPE resin and syntactic foams. Theoretical models are used to estimate the effectiveness of cenospheres in reinforcing syntactic foams. © 2016, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.Item Effect of cenosphere surface treatment and blending method on the tensile properties of thermoplastic matrix syntactic foams(John Wiley and Sons Inc. P.O.Box 18667 Newark NJ 07191-8667, 2016) Bharath Kumar, B.R.; Zeltmann, S.E.; Doddamani, M.R.; Gupta, N.; Uzma; Gurupadu, S.; Sailaja, R.R.N.The influence of cenosphere surface treatment and blending method on the properties of injection molded high-density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix syntactic foams is investigated. Cenospheres are treated with silane and HDPE is functionalized with dibutyl maleate. Tensile test specimens are cast with 20, 40, and 60 wt % of cenospheres using injection molding. Modulus and strength are found to increase with increasing cenosphere content for composites with treated constituents. Highest modulus and strength were observed for 40 and 60 wt % untreated mechanically mixed and treated brabender mixed cenospheres/HDPE blends, respectively. These values are 37 and 17% higher than those for virgin and functionalized HDPE. Theoretical models are used to assess the effect of particle properties and interfacial bonding on modulus and strength of syntactic foams. Brabender mixing method provided highest ultimate tensile and fracture strengths, which is attributed to the effectiveness of Brabender in breaking particle clusters and generating the higher particle–matrix surface area compared to that by mechanical mixing method. Theoretical trends show clear benefits of improved particle–matrix interfacial bonding in the strength results. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43881. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Item Development of glass microballoon/HDPE syntactic foams by compression molding(Elsevier Ltd, 2017) Jayavardhan, M.L.; Bharath Kumar, B.R.; Doddamani, M.; Singh, A.K.; Zeltmann, S.E.; Gupta, N.Thermoplastic resins are widely used in consumer products and industrial components. There is a significant interest in weight reduction of many of those components. Although glass hollow particle filled lightweight syntactic foams with thermoset matrices have been studied in detail, studies on thermoplastic syntactic foams are scarce. The present study is focused on developing a compression molding based processing method for glass microballoon/high density polyethylene (GMB/HDPE) syntactic foams and studying their mechanical properties to develop structure-property correlations. Blending of GMB in HDPE is carried out using a Brabender mixer with processing parameters optimized for minimal filler breakage. Flexural and tensile test specimens are compression molded with 20, 40 and 60 vol% of GMB. Particle fracture increases with increasing GMB content due to increased particle to particle interaction during processing. Additionally, increasing wall thickness makes GMBs stronger and results in reduced particle fracture. Flexural modulus increases while strength decreases with increasing filler content. Tensile strength decreases with increasing filler content, while tensile modulus is relatively unchanged. GMB volume fraction has a more prominent effect than the wall thickness on the mechanical properties of syntactic foams. Specific moduli of GMB/HDPE foams are superior while specific strength is comparable to neat HDPE. © 2017 Elsevier LtdItem Eco-friendly lightweight filament synthesis and mechanical characterization of additively manufactured closed cell foams(Elsevier Ltd, 2019) Patil, B.; Bharath Kumar, B.R.; Bontha, S.; Balla, V.K.; Powar, S.; Hemanth Kumar, V.H.; Suresha, S.N.; Doddamani, M.Environmentally pollutant fly ash cenospheres (hollow microballoons) are utilized with most widely consumed, relatively expensive high density polyethylene (HDPE) for developing lightweight eco-friendly filament for 3D printing of closed cell foams. Cenospheres (20, 40 and 60 by volume %) are blended with HDPE and subsequently extruded in filament to be used for 3D printing. Cenosphere/HDPE blends are studied for melt flow index (MFI) and rheological properties. MFI decreases with cenospheres addition. Complex viscosity, storage and loss modulus increase with filler loading. DSC results on the filament and printed samples reveal increasing crystallization temperature and decreasing crystallinity % with no appreciable change in peak melting temperature. Cooling rate variations exhibit crystallinity differences between the filament and the prints. CTE decreases with increasing cenosphere content resulting in lower thermal stresses and under diffusion of raster leading to non-warped prints. Micrography on freeze fractured filament and prints show cenospheres uniform distribution in HDPE. Intact cenospheres lower the foam density making it lightweight. Tensile tests are carried out on filaments and printed samples while flexural properties are investigated for 3D prints. Cenospheres addition resulted in improved tensile modulus and decreased filament strength. Tensile and flexural modulus of printed foams increases with filler content. Results are also compared with injection molded samples. Printed foams registered comparable tensile strength. Specific tensile modulus is noted to be increased with cenospheres loading implying weight saving potential of 3D printed foams. Property map reveals printed foams advantage over other fillers and HDPE composites synthesized through injection and compression molding. © 2019 Elsevier LtdItem Compressive behavior of fly ash based 3D printed syntactic foam composite(Elsevier B.V., 2019) Patil, B.; Bharath Kumar, B.R.; Doddamani, M.Syntactic foams are widely used in damage tolerance and low-density applications. In present work compressive behavior of 3D printed three-phase syntactic foams under quasi-static strain rates (0.001, 0.01 and 0.1 s?1) are investigated. Extruded filaments of High density polyethylene (HDPE) with environmentally pollutant fly ash cenospheres (0, 20, 40 and 60 vol%) are used for 3D printing. Micrography reveal that syntactic foam filament and 3D printed samples are three phase systems comprising matrix, cenosphere and porosity. Matrix porosity of about 7% makes these foams lightweight and suitable for buoyant applications. The compressive properties are extracted from the stress-strain plots. It is observed that modulus and specific modulus increases with strain rate and cenosphere content. Specific compressive strength increases with strain rate and decrease with cenosphere content. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.