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The aim of this work is to investigate the effects of rubberwood sawdust (RWS) size and content as well as the ratio of natural rubber (NR)/high-density polyethylene (HDPE) blend on properties of RWS reinforced thermoplastic natural rubber (TPNR) composites. The addition of RWS about 30–50 wt% improved the modulus of the rupture and tensile strength of TPNR composites blending with NR/HDPE ratios of 60/40 and 50/50. TPNR composites reinforced with RWS 80 mesh yielded better tensile strength and modulus of rupture than the composites with RWS 40 mesh. The TPNR/RWS composites with larger HDPE content gave higher tensile, flexural, and Shore hardness properties and thermal stability as well as lower water absorption. The TPNR/RWS composites with larger plastic content were therefore suggested for applications requiring high performance of thermal, physical, and mechanical properties.

Hot cracking is an important defect that occurs during solidification of aluminum-copper alloys. In this present work, the effects of mold temperature and casting temperature on hot cracking in the Al-4.5 wt.% Cu alloy has been studied using a ring mold for hot cracking assessment. For the experimental conditions, three mold temperatures between 150 and 350°C and three casting temperatures between 670 and 770°C were studied and Al-7 wt.% Si alloy was used as reference for comparison. The results showed Al-7 wt.% Si alloy has high resistance to hot cracking and no hot cracking forms under three different mold temperatures, while Al-4.5 wt.% Cu alloy shows significant hot cracking tendency under the same casting conditions. The severity of hot cracking in Al-4.5 wt.% Cu alloy decreased significantly with increasing the mold temperature and decreasing the casting temperature. On the other hand, an increasing casting temperature resulted in severer hot cracking in Al-4.5 wt.% Cu alloy.