Processing and Characterization of Epoxy Composites Reinforced with Short Palmyra Fibers

Abstract

The research reported in this thesis broadly consists of four parts: the first part has provided the detailed description of the materials used and experiments conducted during the research. The second part presents the characteristics of the epoxy composi tes reinforced with short palmyra fibers (SPF) in regard to their physical and mechanical properties like density, void fraction, tensile, flexural strength and micro-structural features. The third part of this thesis reports on the sliding wear performance of these epoxy-SPF composites under different test conditions. An empirical correlation has been proposed for estimating the specific wear rate. The last part of the thesis reports on the thermal and acoustic behavior of the epoxy-SPF composite samples under this study. The effects of increasing the SPF content on the thermal conductivity of the samples are studied. Further, its impact on the sound absorbing characteristics has also been discussed in detail in this part. Usually a new composite material’s performance is often determined by its response under various mechanical, physical, tribological and thermal conditions as it gets very much essential for selecting materials of appropriate composition for application in a particular area. Hence, in the current investigation, an abundance of property information has been provided for a set of epoxy-SPF composites by processing them through hand-lay-up technique and by carrying out various physical, mechanical, tribological, acoustic and thermal tests on them under controlled laboratory conditions. It is observed that by reinforcing short palmyra fibers into the neat epoxy resin, its effects, as desired are achieved in the form of enhanced mechanical, physical, tribological, thermal and acoustic properties. When the concentration of SPF in the neat epoxy is increased, the specific wear rate decreased gradually and at the same time a reduction in the effective thermal conductivity is also observed as palmyra fiber is insulative in nature. This is accompanied by increase in both tensile and flexural strength. Further, the sound absorption coefficient also increased by a huge margin as the SPF concentration in the neat epoxy increased. The effects of SPF content on the coefficient of thermal expansion and glass transition temperature of the composites are also found to be significant. With a moderate strength, decreased wear rate, high coefficient of sound absorption and lowered thermal conductivity, these epoxy-SPF composites can be successfully used for applications such as building insulation material, food containers, interior of automobiles, interior wall of halls where sound absorption in required, thermos flasks, packaging industries, rollers of conveyor belts, brake pads, etc.