Experimental Study on Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Epoxy Composites Filled with Agricultural Residue

Abstract

In the last twenty years, the use of lignocellulosic fibers as filler to produce polymer composites has increased progressively. A lot of research work has been performed all over the world on the use of natural fibers as reinforcing material for the preparation of composites. The objective of the present work is to prepare a polymer based composite material using agricultural waste as reinforcing material and characterize some mechanical and thermal properties. In this investigation, groundnut shell particles were chemically modified and used with epoxy to form novel bio-based composites. Composite boards were fabricated with the different weight percentages of groundnut shell particles and epoxy resin. The maximum strength was observed for the sample A1 having 50 wt% filler content and 0.5 mm particle size. However, the sample A3 with 85 wt% filler content and 1mm particle size has maximum MOE. It was observed that thermal conductivity of composite specimens range from 0.07638 to 0.3487 W/m-K and linear thermal expansion varies from 0.725 × 10-6 to 1.296 × 10-6/°C. The results of present study have showed that groundnut shell particles could be used successfully to develop a beneficial composite that would be a substitute for wood-based panels in many applications.