The Taguchi method to optimize the mechanical properties of unsaturated polyester composites reinforced microcrystalline cellulose with various treatments

This study aims determine the best optimization of unsaturated polyester (UPRs) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) mixtures using the taguchi method.The treatment variables consist of volum fraction (V) temperature (T), rotating speed (v), and rotating time (t).The Taguchi method uses the orthogonal array L9 (34) to determine 3 levels, 4 influential parameters, and 9 combination factors with 27 tests.The composite manufacturing process starts from mixing unsaturated polyester and MCC with a magnetic stirrer to adjust the level and factor, and molding using vacuum infusion.The test results of increasing the MCC volume fraction are proportional to the increase in composite density.The Design of Experiment (DOE) and Signal to noise (S/N) test treatments were used to better determine the optimum variation of the largest model.The results of the S/N ratio test for tensile strength showed that the addition of the 15% MCC fraction, temperature of 60o C, rotational speed of 200 Rpm, and 15 minutes of time resulted in the highest strength.The highest flexural strength was at 15% MCC volume fraction, 60oC treatment temperature, 150 Rpm rotation speed, and 15 minutes time.The results of the analysis used ANOVA used to determine the contribution and influence of each factor.The addition of the MCC volume fraction contributed 69.9% and the lowest contribution from the temperature treatment was 5.57% in increasing the tensile strength.. Flexural strength gets the contribution and influence of 82.72 from the volume fraction and and the lowest contribution was 0.88%.The highest tensile strength test is 69.65 Mpa and flexural strength is 104.8Mpa.