This research investigated the role of silica on palm kernel shell (PKS) as friction lining materials in automotive brake pad production. The friction materials were crushed, milled and sieved into four different particle sizes of 100, 150, 200 and 350 µm. The formulations weight percentages employed included Resin (20%), steel slag (15%) and carbon black (5%) while palm kernel shell and silica were varied for each particle size. Individual formulation was mixed for about 10 minutes until formation of homogeneous mixture. Homogeneous formulation A, B, C and D respectively, was compacted into mould and later sintered at 150 oC for 10 minutes in electric furnace and subsequently treated to enhance quality. Produced samples were characterized and evaluated for surface hardness (SH), compressive strength (CS), flame resistance (FR), oil absorption (OA), water absorption (WA) and wear rate (WR). The particles were also characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope. The results revealed that sample D had highest SH and CS values of 105.5 Brinell hardness number (BHN) and 115.2 N/mm2 respectively with decreasing values as particle size increases. FR decreased from samples A to D, and also decreased as particle size increased. Deductively, Sample B with the sieved grade of 100 µm was the best with SH as 99.14 BHN, CS as 105.6 N/mm2, WR as 4.15%, FR as 38.98%, and WA rate as 4.26 % and CF as 0.45 and OA rate as 0.381%. Conclusively, this research developed a high quality eco-friendly PKS particle composite for the production of brake pad.

The effects of temperature and time variances on nano-additives treatment of mild steel during machining was presented in this study. Mild steel of 150 kg mass containing 0.56% carbon was charged into the furnace at melting and pouring temperature of 1539 and 1545 °C respectively. Also charged into the furnace with the mild steel were 0.05% max phosphorous and a bit of sulphur. Thereafter, the sample was cooled and annealed at a temperature of 900 °C for 9 h and then cooled to 300 °C of hardening, normalizing and tempering respectively. The treated samples were then soaked with pulverized in palm kernel shell and barium carbonate (20%) energizer at respective temperatures (800, 850, 900 and 950 °C) and time variances (60, 90 and 120 min) in a muffle furnace. The developed tool was tested on a lathe machine to evaluate its performance. The surface and core hardness, wear resistance and toughness were carried out using the hardness tester, Rotopol-V and impact tester respectively. This is essential for predicting the useful life of the tool in service.

Enormous funds are spent on the protection of engineering components and structures annually as a result of corrosion. Degradation sets in, due to electrochemical reaction that takes place between materials and the environment leading to reduced performance. The associated downtime caused by replacement and maintenance of vessels, pipes, valves and other equipment necessitated seeking for techniques and method to efficiently combat corrosion. This study evaluated the potentiodynamic polarization of brass, Coated Mild Steel (CMS) and Stainless Steel (SS) in sodium chloride (NaCl). The samples (1 x 30 x 30 mm³) were used as working electrodes for Potentiodynamic Polarization Experiment (PPE). The samples were cleaned, and soaked in 1M NaCl solution. Open circuit potentials and current densities of the samples were obtained from PPE which were used to evaluate their corrosion rates. The pH of the media was recorded before and after each experiment. The results obtained using PPE in NaCl (in mm/y) were 0.209, 0.0053 and 0.0046; for brass, MSC and SS respectively. The pH of the medium was measured as 10.9.The results revealed that brass had highest corrosion rate in the medium. The least corrosion rate was obtained for Stainless Steel in 1M NaCl followed by Coated Mild Steel.

Production technology and machining are inseparable with cutting operation playing important roles. Investigation of wear land and rate of cutting tool developed locally (C=0.56%) with an HSS cutting tool (C=0.65%) as a control was carried out. Wear rate test was carried out using Rotopol –V and Impact tester. The samples (12) of locally made cutting tools and one (1) sample of a control HSS cutting tool were weighed to get the initial weight and grit was fixed at a point for the sample to revolve at a specific time of 10 mins interval. Approach of macro transfer particles that involved mechanism of abrasion and adhesion which was termed as mechanical wear to handle abrasion adhesion processes was used in developing equation for growth wear at flank. It was observed from the wear test that best minimum wear rate of 1.09 × 10⁻⁸ and 2.053 × 10⁻⁸ for the tools developed and control were measured. MATLAB was used to simulate the wear land and rate under different conditions. Validated results of both the experimental and modeling showed that cutting speed has effect on wear rate while cutting time has predicted measure on wear land. Both experimental and modeling result showed best performances of tools developed over the control.

Chitosan is termed as one of the useful carbohydrate oligosaccharides derived from chitin, which can be used to improve film packaging by hybridizing with silver due to their advantages of flexibility, easy scale up and low cost methods. Design of packaging material with non-toxic property becomes key issue. The objective of this work is to synthesize and characterize chitosan-silver nanocomposite film for effective packaging. The nanocomposite was synthesized using in-situ, co-mixing chemical method and air drying method. The morphology integrity of the nanohybrid was confirmed using UV-Visible Spectrophotometer, Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). TEM analysis revealed the cap shaped spherical morphology with no agglomeration and uniform size distribution of the nanoparticles within the range of 20.00 nm. UV-visible analysis showed Plasmon resonance band at 275 nm and 435 nm indicating the presence of chitosan and silver with no observable peak and an increase in intensity of chitozan. XRD confirmed the order and crystalline peak located at 2θ = 35^ᵒ, 64^ᵒ and 77^ᵒwhich have been keenly indexed as face centred cubic Silver nanocrystals.Thus, the nanocomposite film produced serves as an effective packaging material.

The consequences of corrosion are many and varied, and their effects of these on the safe, reliable and efficient operation of equipment or structures are often more serious than a simple loss of metal mass. This research investigates the corrosion performance of two nonferrous metals in three acidic media, namely sulfuric acid (98% volume of H₂SO₄), hydrochloric acid (75% volume of HCl), and trioxonitrate (V) acid (75% volume of HNO₃). The corrosion rate is determined by the weight loss method, and the characterization of metallic samples is obtained by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The SEM shows the cracking pattern of grains indicating surface erosion due to the corrosion effects which are more depicted on the zinc than aluminum samples. It is shown that the solution of H₂SO₄ has the highest impact on the corrosion rates of metallic samples, whereas the least effect is observed on the solution of HNO₃. It is observed that Zn alloy sample in 3 M H₂SO₄ records the highest corrosion rate of 138.64 mm/year, while the aluminum alloy sample has the lowest rate of 24.661 mm/year after 72 hours of exposures in the acid. The corrosion rates of the samples decrease as the exposure time increases. The weight loss intensity increases with exposure time for Al samples and varies for Zn sample in acidic media. In conclusion, the higher the acid molarity, the shorter the exposure time and the higher the corrosion rates for both zinc and aluminum alloy samples.