Effect of different shapes of the iron waste/polyester-based composites on the mechanical behaviour

Recycling plays a significant role in achieving a sustainable environment and improving quality of life, by reducing environmental pollution and a negative impact on human health. Utilization of industrial waste materials to improve polymer strength with minimum increase in density and cost is the main purpose to achieve in this study. Different forms of iron waste (powder particles, spiral fiber and flakes) were used to decrease the density with maintaining the improvement in mechanical properties. Three particle sizes (75, 150, 300 µm) of iron waste powder have been chosen to reinforce the polyester. Hand-lay up method was used to prepare the composite specimens. The results indicated that both the hardness and compressive strength of the composites are improved with a little increase in density. Comparison results for the samples at laboratory temperature and after post curing for 2 h at 50 °C were carried out. It was concluded that reinforcing the polyester with iron waste in any form has improved the composite’s mechanical properties. Generally, the best mechanical behaviour has been obtained for the specimens after post cured. Furthermore, the spiral fibers and flakes can decrease the density of the composites associated with increasing the compressive strength values. Among the three types of reinforcing, spiral fibers have the best mechanical results with low density (1.3 g/cm 3 ) and the highest compressive strength (127.96 MPa) (after post curing). While the composites reinforced by iron powder particle size 300 µm have the highest density (2.4 g/cm 3 ) and the composites reinforced by iron powder particle size 150 µm have the lowest compressive strength value (112.8 MPa). The highest hardness has been obtained from composites reinforced by iron powder particle size 75 µm before and after post curing.