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ABSTRACTIn the past several decades, exhaustive research has been reported related to long fibres as the reinforcement in making polymer composites. In this research, innovative filler particles have been used as reinforcement for making the composite material. Here the filler is prepared from the waste Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottle, which is modified into char form by undergoing pyrolysis process. The waste PET bottle is crushed into fine pieces that are closely packed in a cylindrical container and are placed in the furnace maintained at a temperature of 500°C for 3 hours. PET char was used as reinforcement with varying weight percentages such as 5, 10 and 15%wt. The prepared PET char reinforced polyester composites are subjected to hardness, impact strength and erosion property studies. The erosion studies conducted with varying impingement angles revealed that 10%wt PET char filled composites possess better wear resistance. In addition to that, the erosion experiment was also performed by varying the erodent velocity. ANOVA technique was also used to know which variable is more responsible for the erosion of PET char reinforced polymer. As such, produced PET char-based composites have been used for various applications that include structural components, sports goods and making interior designs.

This paper elucidates the effect of near dry machining (NDM) on the surface quality achieved during face milling of AISI 1045 steel components using the conventional emulsified mineral oil cutting fluid and emulsified cutting fluid prepared from eco-friendly non-edible unrefined oils such as castor oil, cottonseed oil and neem oil. This work was completed in a FANUC arrangement CNC vertical machining centre (VMC) with three TiN coated carbide inserts of 0.4 mm nose radius adjusted into a face milling cutter of 25 mm in diameter. The machining parameters considered in this investigation are number of passes, depth of cut, spindle speed and feed rate. The experiments were planned based on Taguchi's L9(34) orthogonal array. The surface roughness of the machined components is measured using a surface roughness tester and subsequently, a mathematical model was developed for the average surface roughness values through regression analysis for all the machining conditions. The significance of the selected machining parameters and their levels of surface roughness are found by analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results revealed that machining under near dry condition using eco-friendly cutting fluids provides better product surface quality than the conventional cutting fluid.

In this paper, the authors use the tool of ‘Time Release Study’ (TRS), advocated by the World Customs Organization and the World Trade Organization under the Trade Facilitation Agreement, to assess the efforts being taken at Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House (JNCH), the largest customs house in India towards trade facilitation. They explain the multi-stakeholder concept of customs clearance process and the mathematical quantification of release time. Thereafter, relying on the data collected for the TRS 2018, which the authors piloted at JNCH, they identify three sets of issues that are critical to drawing up a roadmap to achieve the time release target of 72 hours for import cargo through sea ports, which has been mandated by the National Trade Facilitation Action Plan 2017–2020.The three sets of issues identified are time of submission of the import documents by importers (commonly known as bill of entry), level of facilitation or intervention (as determined by the risk management system) and involvement of non-fiscal concerns that may require processing by regulatory authorities, other than customs. Highlighting the nuanced impact of extent of pre-arrival processing and different grades of facilitation or inspection, the paper emphasises the necessity for a concerted and cooperative effort to achieve the challenging release time target.JEL Classifications:C41, D04, Z18

This paper deals with the change in the mechanical behaviour of aluminium alloy 6061 with different weight percentage of Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Alumina (Al2O3) ceramic powders and change in processing temperature. The crucial properties of this aluminium alloy are relatively light in weight, better corrosion resistance, wear resistance and have low production cost. These properties make them pleasant for different applications such as aerospace, defense, automotive sectors. The purpose of designing Metal Matrix Composite is to figure the desired qualities of metals and ceramics. The fabrication of the MMC was done by stir casting process. The tensile test, hardness test and impact test were performed on these composite samples to study the mechanical behaviour. The result shows that there is a significant increase in tensile strength for the samples that are processed at the temperature of 750 °C with a higher weight fraction of SiC. Also, the samples made at 850 °C exhibit better hardness and impact strength with increased content of alumina. The internal microstructure of the composites was analyzed by scanning electron microscope.