Experimental Investigation of Nicker Nut Shell Powder Filler Blended Epoxy-Based Biopolymer Composite

Abstract

Abstract The need of biodegradable bio-composite materials has significantly increased in recent years for its uses including packaging, agriculture, medicine, sportswear, insulation, paint, etc. Both the environmental and the economical benefits are achieved from the use of natural fibers and natural fillers. Aeronautical and automotive industries use newly identified lightweight biodegradable composite materials because they are strong, light, and consume less energy. They are recognized for having exceptional properties, such as a high strength to weight ratio, a high stiffness to weight ratio, resistance to corrosion, resistance to water absorption, and high hardness. More and more natural fibers and filler materials are being employed in composite materials to lessen the need for the polymer matrix and enhance their chemical, physical, mechanical and thermal properties and so on. This current analysis is carried out experimentally on the impact of adding natural nicker nut shell powder as filler and epoxy resin as matrix on the fabricated biodegradable composites with different volume percentages (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35% so on). On the created biodegradable composites, the impacts of particle size and filler volume percentages on mechanical parameters like tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact strength have been experimentally assessed. Following the standard of American Society for Testing and materials, the specimens were prepared and tested. The mixture of 25% Nicker nut shell powder and 75% epoxy resin produced the highest tensile strength, which measured as 22.05 N/mm2. The blend of 75% epoxy resin and 25% nicker nut shell powder was discovered to have the maximum flexural strength, measuring 46.9 N/mm2. It has been shown that better interfacial adhesion between the filler and matrix allows for the storage of the largest amount of impact energy, 16.29 KJ/mm2, when the filler and matrix are 25% nicker nut shell powder and 75% matrix, respectively. SEM analysis was conducted to analyze the interfacial bonding between the matrix and filler particles with defects in the composites. SEM images are evidence to attribute better mechanical behavior of bio-composites.