COMPOSITE PLASTERING MATERIAL

Abstract

A composite plastering material and a method of making the same are provided. The composite plastering material includes a mixture of sand-silica and Abelmoschus esculentus powder. The composite plastering material has increased compressive strength depending upon the concentration of Abelmoschus esculentus powder used. The method of making the composite plastering material includes sieving the sand-silica to produce sand-silica of a uniform particle size, mixing powdered Abelmoschus esculentus powder with the sand-silica to produce a first mixture, and mixing water with the first mixture to produce the composite plastering material. Optionally, the method may also include milling the sand-silica prior to sieving and combining the sand-silica with the Abelmoschus esculentus powder. The composite plastering material may then be plaster cast, such as by pressing the composite plastering material in a hot press and drying the resulting composite material in an oven.

Claims

1. A composite plastering material comprising between about 5% and about 15% Abelmoschus esculentus; and sand-silica.

2. The composite plastering material as recited in claim 1, wherein the composite plastering material comprises about 5% Abelmoschus esculentus.

3. The composite plastering material as recited in claim 1, wherein the composite plastering material comprises about 10% Abelmoschus esculentus.

4. The composite plastering material as recited in claim 1, wherein the composite plastering material comprises about 15% Abelmoschus esculentus.

5. The composite plastering material as recited in claim 1, wherein the sand-silica has an average diameter of between about 25 microns and about 850 microns.

6. The composite plastering material as recited in claim 5, wherein the sand-silica has an average diameter of about 25 microns.

7. The composite plastering material as recited in claim 5, wherein the sand-silica has an average diameter of about 850 microns.

8. A method of making a composite plastering material comprising the steps of: sieving sand-silica to produce sand-silica with particles of a uniform size; mixing the sieved sand-silica with Abelmoschus esculentus powder to produce a first mixture; mixing water with the first mixture to produce the composite plastering material.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising milling the sand-silica prior to the sieving step.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising sieving the milled sand-silica to produce a sand-silica having an average diameter of 25 microns.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising plaster casting the composite plastering material.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plaster casting comprises pressing the composite plastering material in a hot press and drying the composite plastering material in an oven.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising mixing the sieved sand-silica with about 5% Abelmoschus esculentus powder.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising mixing the sieved sand-silica with about 10% Abelmoschus esculentus powder.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising mixing the sieved sand-silica with about 15% Abelmoschus esculentus powder.

16. The method of claim 8, further comprising sieving the sand-silica to produce a sand-silica having an average diameter of 850 microns.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein the mixing water with the first mixture further comprises gradually spraying water on the first mixture until it becomes a homogenous mixture.

18. A composite plastering material produced by the method of claim 8.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] FIG. 1 depicts a graph illustrating the compressive strength of a number of sand-silica and Abelmoschus esculentus composites using a range of concentrations of Abelmoschus esculentus and average particle sizes of sand-silica.

[0013] FIG. 2 depicts a graph illustrating the elastic modulus of a number of sand-silica and Abelmoschus esculentus composites using a range of concentrations of Abelmoschus esculentus and average particle sizes of sand-silica.

[0014] FIG. 3 depicts a graph illustrating the yield strength of a number of sand-silica and Abelmoschus esculentus composites using a range of concentrations of Abelmoschus esculentus and average particle sizes of sand-silica.

[0015] FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of one embodiment of making the composite plastering material.

[0016] FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart of an alternative embodiment of making the composite plastering material.

[0017] Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018] A composite plastering material includes a mixture of sand-silica and Abelmoschus esculentus powder. The composite plastering material has increased compressive strength depending upon the concentration of Abelmoschus esculentus powder used.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 4, a method of making the composite plastering material includes sieving sand-silica to produce sand-silica of a uniform particle size 10, providing powdered Abelmoschus esculentus grains 20, mixing the powdered Abelmoschus esculentus grains and the sand-silica to provide a mixture 30, and adding water to the mixture to produce the composite plastering material 40.

[0020] Optionally, as shown in FIG. 5, the method may include milling the sand-silica 60 and combining 70 the milled and sieved sand-silica 60 with the Abelmoschus esculentus powder 50. The composite may then be plaster cast 80 by any well-known method in the art, including but not limited to pressing the composite in a hot press and drying the resulting composite material in an oven to form the plastering material.

[0021] As used herein, Abelmoschus esculentus refers to the plant species Abelmoschus esculentus, also known as Okra, Ladies' Fingers, or Ochro.

[0022] In an embodiment, the composite plastering material may include between about 5% to about 15% Abelmoschus esculentus. For example, the composite plastering material may include about 5%, 6%, 7%, 8%, 9%, 10%, 11%, 12%, 13%, 14%, or 15% Abelmoschus esculentus.

[0023] In an embodiment, the sand-silica may be milled to different average particle sizes. For example, the sand-silica may be milled to an average particle size between about 25 microns and about 850 microns. In a further embodiment, the sand-silica may be milled to an average particle size of about 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750, 800, or 850 microns.

[0024] In an embodiment, the sand-silica may be either natural sand-silica or commercially available ground sand-silica.

[0025] In an embodiment, the method of making the composite plaster may include first sorting the sand-silica to remove any stones and non-sand particles. The sand-silica may be washed and dried prior to the optional milling step.

[0026] In an embodiment, the milling may use a commercial milling machine. Milling may be performed for different periods of time, depending upon the desired average size of the sand-silica particles.

[0027] In an embodiment, the Abelmoschus esculentus used in the production of the composite plaster may be commercially sourced, powdered Abelmoschus esculentus. The Abelmoschus esculentus powder may be produced from any part of the Abelmoschus esculentus plant, including but not limited to plant waste by-products produced during the farming of Okra.

[0028] In an embodiment, the composite plastering material may include an insecticide, a rodenticide, and/or a chemical attractant for insects or rats, or a combination thereof. The insecticide, rodenticide, and chemical attractants may be any suitable substance known in the art.

[0029] In an embodiment, the composite plastering material may include plant seeds for use in farming or gardening. The plant seeds could be any seeds capable of germinating a desirable plant species. In use, the composite plastering material comprising the plant seeds would be wetted or soaked for a period of time, causing the composite plastering material comprising the plant seeds to degrade until the seeds were exposed. Once exposed, the seeds could germinate and grow. The thickness of the layer of the composite plastering material covering the seeds could be varied to provide control over the period of time required for the seeds to be exposed.

[0030] The composite plastering material and method of making same may be better understood in view of the following examples, which are illustrative only and are not intended to limit the present teachings.

Example 1

Production of the Composite Plastering Material

[0031] Natural sand-silica was collected and sorted to remove stones and non-sand particles. The natural sand-silica was washed with water and dried. The natural sand-silica was separated into two samples. The first sample was sieved to produce 850 micron average diameter powder. The second sample was milled using a commercial milling machine and sieved to produce 25 micron average diameter powder. Each sample was then mixed with sufficient Abelmoschus esculentus powder for a final dry weight percentage of 5%, 10%, or 15% Abelmoschus esculentus (with the remainder being sand-silica). The resulting mixture was then gradually sprayed with pure water until it became a homogenous mixture with a clay-like structure. The mixture was then further mixed by hand for 5 minutes, placed in a steel cylindrical mold, and subjected to a 500 kg load for 30 minutes at 70 C. using a hot press. The composite material was then dried in an oven for 15 minutes at a temperature of 95 C., removed, and left at room temperature for at least 2 hours.

Example 2

Testing the Composite Plastering Material

[0032] The compressive strength of the various composite materials synthesized according to Example 1 was tested, demonstrating an increase in compressive strength with increased concentration of Abelmoschus esculentus powder up to 15% for the samples using 25 micron milled sand-silica and up to 10% for the samples using 850 micron natural sand-silica. (See FIG. 1 and Tables 1-2) Notably, for all samples tested containing 10% or 15% Abelmoschus esculentus powder the compressive strength exceeded 7 MPa, and thus fell within the range of common plastering materials used for construction materials.

[0033] The elastic modulus of the various composite materials synthesized according to Example 1 was tested, demonstrating a linear increase in the elastic modulus up to 15% Abelmoschus esculentus powder for the samples using 25 micron milled sand-silica and up to 10% for the samples using 850 micron natural sand-silica. (See FIG. 2 and Tables 1-2)

[0034] The yield strength of the various composite materials synthesized according to Example 1 was tested, demonstrating an increase in yield strength characteristics with increased concentration of Abelmoschus esculentus powder up to 15% for the samples using 25 micron milled sand-silica and up to 10% for the samples using 850 micron natural sand-silica. (See FIG. 3 and Tables 1-2)

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Mechanical Properties of Composite Material With 25 Micron Sand-Silica Compressive Yield Elastic Abelmoschus Strength Strength Modulus Ductility esculentus % (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (%) 5 1.6 1.3 4.4 18.5 10 9.8 9.4 6.6 17.5 15 18.0 17.6 14.1 12.2

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Mechanical Properties of Composite Material With 850 Micron Sand-Silica Compressive Yield Elastic Abelmoschus Strength Strength Modulus Ductility esculentus % (MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (%) 5 6.4 5.5 5.5 18.7 10 13.4 13.2 10.0 33.5 15 11.5 11.3 6.3 63.5

[0035] It is to be understood that the composite plastering material and method of making same is not limited to the specific embodiments described above but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the generic language of the following claims enabled by the embodiments described herein, or otherwise shown in the drawings or described above in terms sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the claimed subject matter.