Preparation Of Spent Tea Leaves Filled Polyurethane Composites For Sustainable Sound Absorbing Materials

Chia, Pooi Ching (2013) Preparation Of Spent Tea Leaves Filled Polyurethane Composites For Sustainable Sound Absorbing Materials. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Spent tea leaves (STL) from tea producing factories are considered as new resources for sound absorbing polyurethane matrix composite materials because tea leaves are rich in polyphenols and hydrophilicity of both materials which is beneficial to the sound absorption properties of the composites. This report deduces the preparation and characterization of spent tea leaves filled polyurethane (PU/STL) composites for sustainable sound absorbing materials. The objectives of this study were to study physical and chemical properties as well as morphology of various grades of spent tea leaves, to fabricate a green sound absorption structure made of PU/STL composites with different grades and loadings of the STL through open molding technique, and to investigate physical and sound absorption behavior as well as morphology of PU/STL composite. There were three grades of STL fiber used in this study, which were BM-FAE and SW-BHE from the stalk while FIBER-FAE from the leaves of the tea plant. The PU/STL composites were fabricated through open molding method by varying fiber loading ranging from 4, 8, 12, and 16 wt%. The fabricated composites were then subjected to physical and sound absorption testing as well as microscopic observations to analyze the distribution of filler in composite. From this study, the sound absorption results shown that the finest grade (FIBER-FAE) spent tea leaves provide the best sound absorption coefficient and increasing the loading of the STL to the PU foam exhibits gradual decreasing of sound absorption coefficient of the PU composite.

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