Effect of particle size on physical properties of epoxy composites filled with micro-size walnut shell particulates

Abstract

Polymers filled with bio-particulates are replacing the plastic component to achieve the environmental sustainability. Given this, present work comprises of developing composites prepared by reinforcing walnut shell powder (WSP) as bio-particulates in epoxy matrix. The filler used in present work has varied size i.e. 50 µm, 75 µm and 100 µm. Three different sets of composites are fabricated using hand lay-up method with three different sizes of particles. In each set, composites are fabricated for four different filler loading i.e. 5 wt%, 10 wt%, 15 wt% and 20 wt%. The effect of particle content and size of WSP on different physical properties is studied. The properties under investigation are density, void content and water absorption rate. From the experimental investigation, it has been seen that, both the parameters i.e. filler size and its content has noticeable impact on the physical properties. It is observed that with increase in filler content, density of the composite decreases whereas void content and water absorption rate increases. Further, it is noted that, composites with large particle size WSP has low density, high void content and greater water absorption rate as compared to the composites with small particle size WSP.