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Numerical and Experimental Analysis of Activated Carbon Filler on the

Mechanical Properties of Wood Composites

Article in International Journal of Engineering & Technology Sciences · December 2018

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 International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (4.33) (2018) 463-467.

International Journal of Engineering & Technology

Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJET

Research paper

Numerical and Experimental Analysis of Activated Carbon

Filler on the Mechanical Properties of Wood Composites
M. Mazlan1*, F.R. Hashim2, K.A. Ahmad2, M.N. Omar3, A. I. M. Shaiful3, M.K.A.A. Razab6, S. Mamat1,
M.B.A.Bakar1, M.F. Hamid4, Ayub Ahmed Janvekar4, Zairi Ismael Rizman7
1Advanced Material Research Cluster, Faculty of Bioengineering and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, Jeli, Kelantan,
Malaysia
2
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National Defense University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
3School of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia
4School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia
5School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi,

Selangor, Malaysia
6School of Health Science Universiti Sains Malaysia, Health Campus, 16150 Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia
7Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 23000 Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia

*Corresponding author E-mail: fakroul@upnm.edu.my

Abstract

This research is conducted by using numerical and experimental analysis of filler using carbon as main material. The effect of carbon
filler was studied to improve mechanical properties of composite between plywood, medium density fibreboard (MDF). The properties
of wood composite are well known to have high strength, ductility, elasticity and high modulus of rupture. The function of this filler are
to fill the gap or void between particles of atom in wood particles. The carbon are known to have high thermal, mechanical and high
hardness properties. The numerical and experimental analysis was using the same parameter such as dimension of wood composite in-
cluding the thickness, thermal conductivity, pressure and force applied to the wood composite. The numerical analysis was using solid-
work software to simulation the modelling of the wood composite with all the parameter that been used in experimental setup. The result
of numerical analysis by using solidwork are in term of stress, strain and displacement. The result between numerical and experimental
analysis has been compare to ensure the accuracy and validation of the result. It was found that the different between numerical and ex-
perimental results are less than 10%. From the result, it was found that medium density fibreboard (MDF) has the highest strength com-
pare with others wood composite material.

Keywords: activated carbon filler; SolidWorks; wood composite; mechanical properties.

1. Introduction
The wood composite are common in the wood industry especially
in furniture application. The most wood composite use are ply-
wood, medium density fiberboard (MDF). Medium density fiber-
board widely used because it has good properties especially in
mechanical properties, thermal properties and good thermal insu-
lation [1-3]. This excellent properties make medium density fiber-
board (MDF) very suitable for varies application including struc-
tural of small building, house and furniture [1, 4-5].
1.1. Application of Activated Carbon
Activated carbon are one of the famous field to develop and ex-
plore today. Activated carbon well known because of it properties
have high hardness, strength, thermal properties but at the same
time it also brittle because it contain microcrystalline, non-
graphitic form of carbon that has been processed to develop inter-
nal porosity [6]. This properties make the activated carbon have
abilities to absorb and dissolve the gases and liquid easily compare
with other material. [7]. Activated carbon (AC), had black porous
solid substance, with large surface area and had been known as
modern synthetic material. The design and structural of activated
carbon consists three types of pore volume such as micropores,
mesopores, and macropores [8]. Activated carbon used as an ad-
sorbent and the efficiency of the activated carbon depend on sur-
face area, surface reactivity, and pore size [9]. Activated carbon
play an important role to be used in many application especially in
structure application. That why there is very important to control
the quality and consistency of activated carbon [10]. There are two
common method to produce active carbon such as physical and
chemical method. The chemical method using simple, shorter
activation time, higher yield, lower temperature and better devel-
opment of the porous structure. The further studied had been done
by using microwave (MW) activation as an alternative method in
preparation of ACs [11].
1.2. Carbon filler
Carbon filler are the most common filler used to enhance the me-
chanical properties of wood composite. There are two categories

Copyright © 2018 Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
464 International Journal of Engineering & Technology

of composite materials involved which are reinforce material and

filler. These two combination of composite material are compulso-
ry because the filler need to support the reinforcement material to
fill the cavity. Reinforcement is adding its special mechanical
properties in order to improve the mechanical properties of filler
[12]. Fillers can be divide into two types of groups, particulate
and fibrous. Particulates are the types of fillers that usually use to
reinforce fillers when the interphase bond is high [13]. Particulate
have dimensions that are approximately equal in all directions and
can be any shape. Filler or particles can be used to increase me-
chanical properties, however they are more commonly used as
extenders to lower polymer application [14]. The fillers can be
categorized according to their specific application, such as their
ability to modify mechanical, electrical or thermal properties,
thermal resistance, processing characteristics, solvent permeability,
or simply formulation costs [15]. The characteristic of wood com-
posite need to further treatment because wood have low thermal
conductivity make it limits the production rates in existing produc-
tion lines. The carbon filler had been used to enhance and increase
the thermal and mechanical properties of wood composite. The
gap and void between particles of the wood composite can be
closing by using carbon filler as interface between these two types
of material [16].

1.3. SolidWorks Simulation Design

SolidWorks simulation is one of the software or tool to simulate

the mechanical properties of composite material in term of stress
and strain [17-19]. This software are well verse and has high repu-
tation to get accurate result and been used as a validation with
experiment results [20-22]. All the parameter were used in this
Fig. 1: Flow chart of simulation and experiment
simulation are same with the experiment setup to shows a good
correlation and to ensure the accuracy and validity [23-27].
2.1. Design of the Sample
2. Methods and Materials A sandwich construction as here considered is comprised of a
combination of composite materials assembled alternately and
The materials that were used in this study are sawdust activated intimately fixed in relation to each other so as to use the properties
carbon in granular form provided by Leong Carbon Enterprise Sdn. of each to specific structural advantage for the whole assembly.
Bhd., wood composite which consist of plywood and medium- This type of construction permits the fabrication of strong light-
density fiberboard which are provided by Robert Bosch Sdn. Bhd. weight panels, which are growing steadily in importance. The
Polyvinyl acetate (PVA) adhesive glue is the type of glue that was control variable of this panel is the thickness of the wood compo-
used in this study. PVA is clear and colorless thermoplastic poly- site. Fig. 2 and 3 show the sandwich design used for this study.
mer. All PVAs are designed to work on porous materials only.
PVA is only toxic to ingest, it does not emit any harmful fumes,
and is not hazardous to touch. PVA sets best in good air circula-
tion, at room temperature [28]. This study used two different
method which are SolidWorks simulation and experimental. Then,
the result from these two methods was analyzed to see the me-
chanical properties of the samples. The flow chart shows the pro-
cess of this research done. Fig. 2: Panel A

Fig. 3: Panel B

2.2. Preparation of Sample

Eight samples were used in this study with the different types of
arrangement. These samples are prepare in sandwich arrangement
in the lab before been test under Charpy Impact Test [6]. Glue or
resin named Urea Formaldehyde Resin (UF) is used in this study
to laminate the wood samples with wood composite materials. The
Charpy impact test give the result in term of energy (unit Joule)
International Journal of Engineering & Technology 465

[29]. Figure 4 shows the sample to be use in the experimental

method.

Fig. 4: 8 samples to be use in the experimental method

2.3. SolidWorks Simulation

SolidWorks simulation is the method to simulate the stress and

strain of wood composite that we use in this research. This simula-
tion result had been use to validate the experiment result [5, 25,
30].

3. Results and Discussion

From the experiment that was done by using Charpy impact test,
the result obtained is in the energy form (Table 1). So, by using in
(1), the energy (J) was converted into forces (N). Then, the stress
value of each sample was determined by using in (2).

(1)

where

Fig. 5: SolidWorks simulation after increase forces (plywood samples)

(2)

where

Table 1: Properties of wood composites based on experimental (a) ply-

wood (b) MDF
(a) plywood

(b) MDF
466
Fig. 6: SolidWorks simulation after increase forces (MDF samples)
In Fig. 5 and 6, it shows that the energy value of plywood without
activated carbon filler is 2.85 J. After the activated carbon filler of
plywood has been add and the thickness is increase from 0.01 until
0.011 m, the energy value also increased from 7.52 J to 11.4 J. At
the highest thickness use in the simulation is 0.015 m, it was
found that the energy value of plywood sample decreased into 9.4
J. That mean the increase of thickness is not efficient method to
increase the strength of wood composite. Meanwhile, in figure 6,
the MDF samples show that without activated carbon filler, the
energy of the samples was 1.2 J. After thickness increase the ener-
gy value of MDF also increase to 6.64 J. The resin is one of the
most important factors affecting the mechanical properties of
MDF board. The MDF has structural integrity because the cured
resin binds with the fiber matrix.
Fig. 7: Comparison of average displacement between plywood and MDF
By inserting the force value from the experiment, the average
displacement of wood composites can be determined. From Fig. 7,
International Journal of Engineering & Technology
it shows that the average displacement of plywood without acti-
vated carbon as filler is 8.6634 mm. Due to the addition of activat-
ed filler is increased to 0.003 m, the average displacement also
increased to 18.4708 mm. But, when the thickness of activated
filler was increased to 0.005 m, the average displacement of ply-
wood sample was decreased to 7.0583 mm which is lower than
plywood without activated carbon filler. The average displace-
ment of MDF without activated carbon filler is 2.742 mm. The
addition of activated carbon about 0.001 m has increased the aver-
age displacement of MDF to 15.4247 mm. The MDF sample
shows continued increase of average displacement due to the addi-
tion of filler about 0.005 m in which the value of average dis-
placement is 62.048 mm. From the Fig. 7, the average displace-
ment between plywood and MDF was compared. Without acti-
vated carbon filler, the plywood sample has higher average dis-
placement compare to MDF without activated carbon filler. The
same condition occur when the activated carbon was added about
0.001 m, which the value of average displacement for plywood is
8.6634 mm and MDF is 15.4247 mm. But when the activated
filler was increased to 0.003 m, the average displacement of ply-
wood (18.4708 mm) is lower than MDF (40.008 mm). Due to the
thickness of filler is increase up to 0.005 m, the average displace-
ment of plywood sample suddenly show decreased in which the
value is 7.0583 mm. Meanwhile, MDF shows higher value of
average displacement which is 62.048 mm.
Fig. 8: Comparison of average stress between plywood and MDF
From SolidWorks simulation, the value of average stress was
identified. Fig. 8 shows that the average stress of plywood without
activated carbon is 3.08e+05 N/m2. The average stress was in-
creased to 8.11e+05 N/m2 with the addition of activated carbon
from 0.001 m to 0.003 m. Due to the thickness of the filler was
increased to 0.005 m, the value of average stress was decreased to
3.69e+05 N/m2. The average stress of MDF without activated
carbon as filler is 9.73e+04 N/m2. The additions of activated filler
from 0.001 m to 0.005 m show the continued increase of average
stress from 5.65e+05 N/m2 to 3.24e+06 N/m2. The increases of
average stress indicated that the strength of the composites was
higher.
4. Conclusion
It can be concluded that the thickness of the activated carbon
about 25-30% of wood composite can increase up to 60-80% im-
provement. The highest thickness use at 50% give the highest
improvement about 95-100% increase in term of mechanical prop-
erties. SolidWorks simulation determines the sample that has high
average displacement and average stress which indicate good per-
formance of mechanical properties. The addition of activated car-
bon as filler increases the average displacement and average stress
of MDF which is higher than plywood. Thus, both the method
which are experimental and simulation show that the mechanical
properties of MDF was higher compare to plywood with the addi-
tion of activated filler. It is proved that SolidWorks simulation is a
suitable tool used to measure strength to get accurate result.
 International Journal of Engineering & Technology
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