An Assessment on the Production of Abrasive Sandpaper from Locally Sourced Materials

A comparative analysis of abrasive sandpaper made from two locally sourced and easily available materials, periwinkle and palm kernel shells was carried out to evaluate their viability as replacements for foreign imported abrasives sandpaper. Composites of crushed shells with polyester resin bond were developed separately for the periwinkle and palm kernel shell samples using mould compression, and the sandpaper prototype was produced using hand-spray method. A study on the physico-mechanical properties of the produced composite carried out was found that at 12 wt.% content of resin, periwinkle shell (PWS)/resin composites had higher physico-mechanical properties such as density with 77.74 % difference, hardness with 17.13 % difference and compressive strength with 182.42 % difference over the palm kernel shell-resin composites. Water absorption for palm kernel (PKS) shell/resin composite was a 186.59 % difference over the PWS/resin composite. Surface morphology using SEM revealed PWS/resin composite to have less distortional effects on the grains from compressive force of 15.7 N/mm2 applied compared to the palm kernel shell grains, and also shows PWS grains held together in close packing by the resin bond. The concentration used for sandpaper production was 87 wt.% of periwinkle shell grains to 12 wt.% of resin. The obtained physical and mechanical properties were compared to garnet sandpaper and found to be close to acceptable standards.