Simulation of Water Absorption of Epoxy Reinforced Composite Using Polynomial Model on MATLAB Environment
D. A. Ekpechi *
Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria.
O. O. Obiukwu
Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria.
B. U. Okonkwo
Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria.
C. C. Chiabuotu
Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria.
K. C. Chukwuemeka
Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria.
U. V. Opara
Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Application of MATLAB software for water absorption test, which entails the rate by which a material diffuses and retain water molecule, on epoxy reinforced with coconut shell fiber (CSF), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), and silicon carbide (SiC) composites have been investigated. Five specimens (E, S1, S2, S3 and S4) were developed using compression molding on different percentage of fibers. The water absorption test was conducted using suitable American Society for Testing and Material (ASTM) which involves different water solutions. It was observed that sample ‘E’ shows maximum water absorption maybe due to absence of reinforced fibers. Specimen S1 indicated less water absorption, maybe due to presence of natural filler. Sample S4 shows trend on least water absorption, maybe due presence of higher percentage of natural synthetic fibers. Validation of the experiments using 2020 Commercial License Model MATLAB software, which were compared with the experimental result using the root mean square error (RMSE) statistical parameter and graph of point of intercept. The predicted data developed through the MATLAB software, established 95% confidence bounds on RMSE, which indicated 0.012 range of standard deviation between the experimental and simulation results, which avoids the under fitting and over fitting problem, also, when compared using a graph of point intercept, followed the same trend of result from the experiment.
Keywords: Fibers, hybridization, plasticization, langmuir-model, MATLAB