The Analysis of Tensile Strength of High-Density Polyethylene for

Shipbuilding

I Putu Arta Wibawa, Kharis Abdullah

, Sumardiono, Abdul Gafur,

Eriek Wahyu Restu Widodo

and Zaini Aris Musthofa

Politeknik Perkapalan Negeri Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords: HDPE, Ship, Tensile Strength.

Abstract: Since years ago, ships have been made using various types of materials. The materials that be used, such as

wood, steel, aluminium, and others. However, some of materials still have disadvantages, such as easily

weathered, unrecyclable, and expensive. There is still a need for alternative materials that are cheap and

environmentally friendly. HDPE can be used as an alternative because it has the above characteristics. It is

necessary to analyse its mechanical properties first before applicated because of related to the strength of the

material. One of its mechanical properties is tensile strength. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyse

the mechanical properties of HDPE by testing. This research was conducted to determine the mechanical

properties of tensile testing for the three brands of HDPE which were applied as the basic material for

shipbuilding by referring to the Turk Loydu acceptability standard. The HDPE material was processed into

test specimens and tested for tensile strength. Based on the tests that have been carried out, the highest

mechanical properties of HDPE material were obtained, ultimate tensile strength and yield strengths of 32.7

and 26.89 MPa (Local HDPE), respectively. Fracture tensile strength and maximum strain of 29.60 MPa and

46.92% (HDPE ROCHLING), respectively. While the strain at yielding point was 2.39% (HDPE AGRU).

Based on the acceptance standards of Turk Lyodu, HDPE ROCHLING could be used as a basic material for

shipbuilding in terms of the acceptability of mechanical properties after tensile testing.

1 INTRODUCTION

Along with the development of technology, various

types of materials have been used as basic materials

for shipbuilding. The materials that have been used

are wood, steel, aluminium, and fiberglass. Some of

the above materials still have weaknesses, such as

wood that is easily weathered, steel and aluminium

which are expensive, or fiberglass which

unrecyclable. Meanwhile, currently the use of

materials that are durable, environmentally friendly,

and has an economical price is a new concern for ship

owners. Thus, from these problems, other alternative

materials are still needed that can be applied as basic

materials for shipbuilding.

HDPE (high density polyethylene) can be an

alternative base material for shipbuilding. Currently,

more than 70% of the plastics produced or used by the

community are Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7859-4783

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4424-0351

(PP), Polystyrene (PS), and Polyvinyl Chloride

(PVC) so that many or even most of the current

studies and research must relate to these four the type

of polymer (Praputri et al, 2016). HDPE has

characteristics which is durable against aging and

corrosion, and recyclable (Siswandi, 2016). Before

applied as a ship structural material, it was necessary

to know in advance about the physical and

mechanical properties of HDPE. Mechanical

properties describe the characteristics of the material

when it is subjected to loading.

Knowing the mechanical properties of HDPE

were certainly related to the strength of the material.

The strength of a material is needed to determine the

level of resistance of the material to deformation that

occurs due to loading. As for one of the mechanical

properties that need to be known, namely tensile

strength (tensile strength). Tensile strength can be

generated through a series of tensile tests (tensile

334

Arta Wibawa, I., Abdullah, K., Sumardiono, ., Gafur, A., Restu Widodo, E. and Aris Musthofa, Z.

The Analysis of Tensile Strength of High-Density Polyethylene for Shipbuilding.

DOI: 10.5220/0011769900003575

In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science (iCAST-ES 2022), pages 334-336

ISBN: 978-989-758-619-4; ISSN: 2975-8246

strength tests). Therefore, to determine the tensile

strength of HDPE and determine whether the material

can be applied as a basic material for shipbuilding, the

authors made a solution through tensile strength

testing.

2 EXPERIMENTS

The material was used in this research was HDPE

sheet with three different brands (HDPE AGRU,

Local, ROCHLING). The manufacture of test

specimens was carried out by directly attaching a

specimen mall whose dimensions have been designed

based on the ASTM D-638 part type I standard. The

dimensions of the test specimens that have been

regulated in ASTM D-638 are listed in Table 1.

Table 1: The dimension of tensile test specimen according

the ASTM D-638.

Dimension

7 or under

(Thickness, mm)

Tolerances

I II

W 13 6 0.5

L 57 57 0.5

WO 19 19 6.4

LO 165 153 no max

G 50 50 0.25

D 115 135 5

R 76 76 1

(Source: ASTM D-638, 2004)

The shape of the test specimen has also been adjusted

to the ASTM D-638 standard as can be seen in Figure

Figure 1: The specimen of tensile strength according ASTM

D-638.

After the test specimens were made, tensile

strength testing was carried out using a universal

testing machine (UTM) with the SHIMADZU UH-

600kNI brand with a testing speed of 50 mm/min. As

for after the test, the results will be processed to reveal

the mechanical properties after the tensile strength

test, such as maximum tensile strength and yield

strength.

3 RESULTS

The research conducted by Jamal in 2017 showed that

fishing boats/pompong boats made of HDPE can be

used as a substitute for wood-based materials, this

research was carried out only on the design side of

fishing boats, without calculating the size of the

construction (Jamal, 2017). Fitria also conducted a

similar study in 2021 on tourist boats made of HDPE,

where in determining the construction size of HDPE

ships using the rules from DNVGL-ST-0342 (Fitria,

2021). Based on these two studies, this time the

research is focused on knowing the mechanical

properties of HDPE material before it is applied and

calculated as ship construction.

Based on the characterization carried out with the

tensile testing machine, the mechanical properties

data after the tensile test were obtained in the form of

tensile strength, strain, and modulus of elasticity as

shown in the following table.

Table 2: Tensile strength of HDPE materials.

No. Merk

Ultimate Tensile

Strength (MPa)

1 AGRU HDPE

25.43

2 Local HDPE 32.75

ROCHLING

HDPE

25.37

According to The Table 1 above, it shown that the

results of the tensile strength test produce maximum

tensile strength values for the three HDPE brands.

The maximum tensile strength value is owned by

Local HDPE, which is 32.75 MPa. Meanwhile,

HDPE AGRU has the smallest maximum tensile

strength, which is 25.37 MPa. The size of the tensile

strength of a material is influenced by factors, such as

the type of material, crystallinity, type of resin and

additives used.

Table 3: Yield strength of HDPE materials.

No. Merk

Yield Strength

(MPa)

1 AGRU HDPE 14.06

2 Local HDPE 26.89

ROCHLING

HDPE

20.54

The Analysis of Tensile Strength of High-Density Polyethylene for Shipbuilding

335

Based on Table 2 above, it shows that the results

of the tensile strength test produce yield strength

values for the three HDPE brands. The value of the

largest yield tensile strength is owned by Local

HDPE, which is 26.89 MPa. Meanwhile, HDPE

AGRU has the smallest maximum tensile strength,

which is 14.06 MPa. There are previous studies that

analyze the tensile strength of HDPE materials.

Research conducted by Eva in 2016 on the effect of

fillers on the mechanical properties of nano

composites showed that the tensile strength of HDPE

material was 22.59 MPa (Ginting, 2016). This

concludes that the tensile strength values of the three

HDPEs studied are above the tensile strength values

of other HDPE studies.

After knowing the value of the mechanical

properties of HDPE material that has been raised

from the tensile strength test, it will then be referred

to one of the accepted standards for mechanical

properties of HDPE material for shipbuilding basic

materials, namely Turk Lyodu for Polyethylene

Crafts. The criteria and minimum acceptance set by

Turk Lyodu on the mechanical properties of HDPE

material can be seen in Table 3.

Table 4: Standar Keberterimaan HDPE dalam Türk Loydu

Tentative Rules for Polyethylene Crafts.

No Property

Properties

HDPE

Unit

Tensile ultimate

tress

Min. 24 MPa

Tensile yield stress Min. 17 MPa

Tensile break

tress

Min. 14 MPa

Elongation at yield 1 to 27 %

Elongation at

brea

10 to 1500 %

Based on Table 8 above, it shows that the results

of the acceptance of the mechanical properties of

HDPE material after tensile testing resulted in the

conclusion that only ROCHLING brand HDPE met

the Turk Lyodu acceptability standard for mechanical

properties after tensile strength testing. Meanwhile,

Local HDPE does not meet the acceptability standard

only for the value of the maximum strain. AGRU's

HDPE does not meet the acceptable standards for

maximum tensile and yield strength values. So from

this, only HDPE ROCHLING material can be

implemented as a basic material for shipbuilding

based on mechanical properties after tensile strength

testing.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the tensile strength tests that have been

carried out, each of the highest mechanical properties

of HDPE material is obtained, namely the maximum

tensile strength of 32.7 MPa (Local HDPE); yield

tensile strength of 26.89 MPa (Local HDPE); fracture

tensile strength of 29.60 MPa (HDPE ROCHLING);

strain at yielding point of 2.39% (HDPE AGRU);

maximum strain of 46.92% (HDPE ROCHLING).

Based on the acceptance standard of HDPE

material mechanical properties regulated by Turk

Lyodu, HDPE ROCHLING material can be used as a

basic material for shipbuilding based on the

acceptability of mechanical properties after tensile

strength testing.

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