PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR COTTON AND PIGEON PIE AS AGRICULTURE RESIDUES

ABSTRACT This study aimed to study some physical and mechanical properties of the two major components cotton and pigeon pie stalks. These properties are necessary to apply normal design procedures such as pneumatic conveying, fluidization, drying, and combustion. The results obtained from determining the mechanical properties of average tensile and compressive strength for cotton stalks at different moisture content (9.58, 14.22 and 16.00%) was (0.34, 0.35 and 0.23MPa) and (7.24, 5.58 and 5.40 MPa) respectively. The results obtained from determining the mechanical properties of average tensile and compressive strength for pigeon stalks (pie) at different moisture content (10.10, 15.95 and 17.24%) was (0.54, 0.69 and 0.39MPa) and (8.95, 6.61 and 4.21MPa) respectively. Other than tensile and compressive strength the various test such as shear strength, impact test, torsion test and bending moment are performed on the cotton and pigeon stalk. The modulus of elasticity and toughness were evaluated as a function of moisture content. As the moisture content of the stalk regions increased the modulus of elasticity and toughness decreased indicating a reduction in the brittleness of the stalk regions. Useful conclusions may be the analysis of the stalk phenomenon refers to the correlation of the main mechanical properties of these residues. All the tests are performed by taking the average diameter of three portion of stalk i.e. Top, middle and bottom portion of the plant