Evaluating the mechanical properties of grinding wheels produced from oyster shell and bakelite powder

Abstract

The health effect of inhaling the dust released from an industrial grinding wheel during a grinding process has necessitated the need for green and cost-efficient materials such as oyster shells to be used as abrasives for a reduction in production cost, health and environmental sustainability in the production of grinding wheel. This study is aimed at producing grinding wheels from oyster shells as a sustainable alternative to conventional abrasives with high production cost, health and environmental hazards. The samples were prepared using different ratios of the oyster shell as abrasive, Bakelite powder as binder and two plies of glass fibre as reinforcement through hot pressing. The samples produced were characterized to check their mechanical properties along with the industrially produced grinding wheel, which served as the control. The result showed that sample 4 with a composition of 60:40 of the binder and the oyster shell abrasive had a flexural strength of 26.58 N/mm² , a shore D hardness of 79, a static coefficient of friction of 0.63, a dynamic coefficient of friction of 0.46, an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) 7.06 N/mm² and a yield strength of 2.69 N/mm² making it the sample with the best result, even better than the control except for the flexural strength where the control has a value of 66.56 N/mm² . This implies that if the flexural strength is improved upon, the oyster shell can comfortably serve as an eco-friendly alternative to the abrasive used in making grinding wheel.