Novel method for improving fatigue behaviour of laminated glass

Fatigue‐prone structures made of the laminated glass (LG) are yet not given the due consideration by the scientific community. In this work, a novel method that increases the fatigue life and improves the post breakage performance of the LG structure (by modifying the fracture pattern) is reported in the present work. The fatigue life of LG samples (having PVB interlayer of 0.76‐mm thickness) is evaluated using the standard method. Further, a theoretical explanation is presented for improved fatigue behaviour of LG. The effect of treatment of LG and cyclic bending fatigue load on cyclic fatigue strength is reported. The cyclic fatigue strength of LG increases 19.1% to 30.5% for treated LG samples when compared to untreated samples. The finite element model is developed (for treated and untreated LG) using the transient analysis in ANSYS 14.5 (Explicit Dynamics Module) to obtain the maximum deformation at failure load for the corresponding number of cycles. The strain‐life relations are established. The previously established fracture models and underdeveloped nanofracture mechanics concepts are used to explain the fracture patterns of the LG samples. Analysis of variance is conducted to ensure the validity of the experimental results.     

Effect of wood dust type on mechanical properties,wear behavior,biodegradability, and resistance to natural weathering of wood-plastic composites

The present work reports the inclusion of different proportions of Mango/Sheesham/Mahogany/Babool dust to polypropylene for improving mechanical, wear behavior and biodegradability of wood-plastic composite (WPC). The wood dust (10%, 15%, 20% by weight) was mixed with polypropylene granules and WPCs were prepared using an injection molding technique. The mechanical, wear, and morphological characterizations of fabricated WPCs were carried out using standard ASTM methods, pin on disk apparatus, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. Further, the biodegradability and resistance to natural weathering of WPCs were evaluated following ASTM D5338-11 and ASTM D1435-99, respectively. The WPCs consisting of Babool and Sheesham dust were having superior mechanical properties whereas the WPCs consisting of Mango and Mahogany were more wear resistant. It was found that increasing wood powder proportion results in higher Young’s modulus, lesser wear rate, and decreased stress at break. The WPCs made of Sheesham dust were least biodegradable. It was noticed that the biodegradability corresponds with resistance to natural weathering; more biodegradable WPCs were having the lesser resistance to natural weathering.