Enhancement of thermal and mechanical properties of novel micro-wear debris reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract

Handling of machining waste called wear debris is a great challenge to the manufacturing industries. Effective ways of managing wear debris is essential for a clean and green environment. This work addresses an effective method of utilization of machining wear debris in the fabrication of polymer composites and the effect of wear debris reinforcement on the thermal and mechanical properties of the epoxy composites are investigated. After the machining process, the residue called wear debris from Wire-cut Electrical Discharge Machine (WEDM) is collected and used as a reinforcement. The micro-composites are fabricated in three different filler concentrations (i.e., 2 wt%, 4 wt%, and 6 wt% of WEDM micro-particles) and their performances are compared with pure epoxy sample. The ThermoGravimetric Analysis (TGA) on the reinforced epoxy samples showed enhanced thermal stability than pure epoxy sample. The Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) and Laser Flash Apparatus were used to assess the specific heat and thermal diffusivity of the epoxy and its composites respectively. The 6 wt% WEDM microparticles reinforced epoxy composite showed 87.25% of improvement in thermal conductivity than pure epoxy. This enhancement in thermal conductivity of the epoxy composites resulted in improved heat transfer, thus making them good candidate for Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and microelectronics applications. In addition, reinforced epoxy samples showed significant improvement in tensile and flexural strengths when compared to pure epoxy samples. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) equipped with EDS was used to analyse the fractured surfaces and the presence of various chemical elements in WEDM microparticles. The particle size analysis showed the size distribution of WEDM microparticles and the avg. size of WEDM microparticles measured was 0.257 μm.