Study on Thermal and Acoustic Characteristics of Bagasse Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Composites

Abstract

This research work mainly deals with processing and characterization of bagasse fiber reinforced epoxy composite. Effective Thermal conductivity and sound absorption coefficient of bagasse fiber reinforced epoxy composites are analysed experimentally by consuming the bagasse fiber from sugarcane waste stock in fabricating the sound absorber material by simple hand layup technique. In the first part their acoustic properties such as sound absorption coefficient (α) are examined and compared with experimental values. In second part the results are compared with the effective thermal conductivity (Keff) values obtained from experiment by using the established models such as Rule-of-Mixture (ROM), Maxwell’s model, bruggeman equation, Lewis and Nielsen. The thermal conductivity values are measured with the UnithermTM model 2022 tester according to the ASTM standard E-1530 whereas, absorption coefficient values are measured in impedance tube machine. According to the research analysis the reinforcement of the bagasse fiber results in reduction of thermal conductivity of epoxy as well as increased in the sound absorption coefficient on increment of filler volume fraction. With up gradation in heat insulation and sound absorption capacity, these reinforced epoxy composites can discover their application in wall insulation, food container, thermos- flask and other similar thermal and acoustic insulation applications