Affiliations 

  • 1 Universiti Tenaga Nasional
  • 2 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
  • 3 Malaysian Nuclear Agency
MyJurnal

Abstract

L18 orthogonal array in mix level of Taguchi robust design method was carried out to optimize experimental conditions for the preparation of polymer blend composite. Tensile strength and neutron absorption of the composite were the properties of interest. Filler size, filler loading, ball mixing time and dispersion agent concentration were selected as parameters or factors which are expected to affect the composite properties. As a result of Taguchi analysis, filler loading was the most influencing parameter on the tensile strength and neutron absorption. The least influencing was ball-mixing time. The optimal conditions were determined by using mix-level Taguchi robust design method and a polymer composite with tensile strength of 6.33 MPa was successfully prepared. The composite was found to fully absorb thermal neutron flux of 1.04 x 105n/cm2/s with only 2 mm in thickness. In addition, the filler was also characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and elemental analysis (EDX).