Umudike Journal of Engineering and Technology

This study focused on the synergistic effects of hybrid periwinkle and palm kernel shell particles on recycled low-density polyethylene composites. The filler samples were carbonized, ground and sieved to 150 microns. FTIR analysis was conducted on the filler samples. Mechanical tests like hardness, tensile, flexural, and impact strength tests were conducted on the produced composites to evaluate their mechanical behavior. Micro structural analysis was also conducted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigate filler distribution within the composites. According to mechanical tests, the addition of PWS and PKS in the ratio of 2:1 respectively significantly improved the hardness and tensile properties of LDPE, with the optimum performance observed both at 24 wt. % filler. Flexural strength peaked at 70.43 MPa at 18 wt. % filler content. The tensile strength rose from 20.33 MPa (control) to a maximum of 28.67 MPa at 24 wt. % filler loading. Impact strength gradually dropped from 0.229 J/mm² to 0.180 J/mm² as filler content increased from 0 wt.% to 30 wt.% filler.. Hardness increased from 45.43 HV to 59.50 HV at 24 wt.% filler. The SEM analysis revealed that agglomeration was at higher concentrations during 24–30 wt.%. It also shows evenly distributed filler dispersion at lower loadings.  Predictive modeling using ANN and MLR test were conducted to analyze the experimental data and validate the observed, trends. Their result revealed that MLR gave accurate predictions with mean squared error of 0.050 while that of ANN gave a mean squared error of 0.386. This is because the MLR prediction were shown to have less error and were closer to the experimental Hardness value when compared to that of the ANN.