Mechanical Properties of Polyester Reinforced with Powdered Shells of the Snail Composites

Composites of unsaturated polyester has been found to be useful virtually in all aspects of life. This project work was carried out to investigate the properties of particulate snail shell reinforced unsaturated polyester matrix composites. The snail shell particulate was calcinated, pulverized and sieved to -75 µm. The composites were developed using predetermined varying filler content. For each of the developed composites, the mixture was missed thoroughly until homogenous paste was obtained and poured into the mould and was allowed to cure before removing from the mould. The developed composites were then characterized by flexural and wear tests. The result showed that better results can be obtained within 5-20 wt% reinforcement addition since 25-30 wt% tends to give weak results in all. The result also proved that properties of the developed composites were highly enhanced compared to the unreinforced polyester material. The optimum properties were observed at 20% filler content.