A Study on Thermal Characteristics of Epoxy Composites Filled with Natural Fiber and Particulate

Abstract

The research reported in this thesis broadly consists of three parts: The first part provides the description of the materials used and the details of the experiments that are carried out during this research. It also presents the test results in regard to the physical, mechanical and micro-structural characteristics of the epoxy filled with micro-sized teak wood dust and/or short banana fibers. The second part is about the development of a theoretical heat conduction model based on which a mathematical correlation has been proposed for estimation of effective thermal conductivity of polymer composites with uniformly distributed micro-sized particulate fillers. In this part, the correlation is validated for teak wood dust (TWD) filled polymers through numerical analysis and experimentation. The last part has presented the experimental results related to the effective thermal conductivity of hybrid composites filled with teak wood dust and short banana fibers (SBF). This part has also reported in regard to their other thermal characteristics such as glass transition temperature (Tg) and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). The findings of this research suggest that by incorporation of micro-sized TWD particulates into epoxy resin, its effects, as expected are achieved in the form of modified physical, mechanical and thermal properties. Due to the presence of TWD micro-fillers, changes in their heat conduction behavior are seen. When TWD is added in epoxy matrix, the effective thermal conductivity of the composite is reduced as wood dust is insulative in nature. Additional reinforcement of short banana fibers in epoxy-TWD composite system further reduces the effective conductivity while enhancing the strength properties. Effects of TWD and SBF on the glass transition temperature and coefficient of thermal expansion of epoxy resin are also found to be substantial. With light weight, lowered thermal expansion coefficient and improved insulation capability, the teak wood dust and short banana fiber reinforced epoxy composites can be used for applications such as insulation boards, food containers, thermos flasks, refrigeration industry, building materials, interiors of air crafts and automobiles etc.