Spray Deposition of Cork Reinforced Polyester

The objective of this research is to enable large part or high volume manufacturing processes to make consumer or industrial products from a cork reinforced polymer composite, similar to current applications of glass reinforced polyester. The low initial investment and high flexibility of the spray lay-up process make it an attractive candidate to study. A spray lay-up apparatus was successfully constructed and employed in manufacturing parts from a hybrid material composed of granulated cork, chopped glass strand, and a polyester matrix. The material was tested for tensile and flexural properties following relevant ASTM standards. The material was found to have a tensile strength of 4.4 MPa and tensile modulus of 850 MPa. The flexural strength and modulus were 9 MPa and 830 MPa, respectively. Adding a fiberglass skin to the cork hybrid significantly improved its flexural strength. Additionally, a small turbine blade prototype was created as a proof of concept. It is recommended that further work focus on optimizing the hybrid material's properties, re-designing and optimizing the apparatus used for the spray-up process, and demonstrating material viability by manufacturing a cross section of a large turbine blade. Thesis Supervisor: David R. Wallace Title: Professor of Mechanical Engineering Acknowledgements Thank you to the many people that helped along, there are more than can be named here. A few, however, deserve special mention: Professor David Wallace, my thesis advisor, for invaluable guidance and advice both on this project in particular and in all aspects of my education and development. Sarah Reed and Sungmin Kim, fellow graduate students in Professor Wallace's group, for sharing their knowledge and experience of cork composites. Joseph Vella and the MIT Department of Facilities for providing a safe spray booth. Mary Pope and the Instron Corporation for making their machines and facilities available. Jimmy Dudley, Steve Habarek, Dick Fenner and the Pappalardo Undergraduate Laboratory Machine Shop for use of machines and materials. Bill Buckley and the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity Machine Shop for guidance in preparing CNC operations. And, of course, my mom and dad, for everything. Table of