A Statistical Approach to Engineer a Biocomposite Formulation from Biofuel Coproduct with Balanced Properties

摘要

A 3~2-full factorial design of experiment (DOE) and regression modeling were implemented together as a practical approach to attain a distillers' grains-filled biocomposite with balanced mechanical and physical properties. The effects of compatibilizer and lubricant on tensile strength, flexural modulus, impact strength and melt flow index of the biocomposites were studied. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was implemented to develop least square regression models containing statistically significant main effects (linear and quadratic) and interaction effect. The developed models showed good predictability for the new measurements. The statistical approach adopted in this work including overlaying contour plots of the response surfaces in the studied level domain was effective in highlighting an optimized region that leads to balanced mechanical and physical properties.