Effect of Cenosphere on the Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Natural Fiber Reinforced Hybrid Composite

Abstract

There is a growing interest in use of agro-fibers as reinforcing components for plastics because they are renewable, biodegradable and environmentally friendly. Again, the growing environmental concern has made plastics a target of criticism due to lack of degradability. So there has been a lot of interest in research committed to the design of biodegradable plastic composites. These composites can be very cost-effective material especially for building and construction industry, packing, automobile and railway coach interiors and storage devices. The term filler is very broad and encompasses a very wide range of materials which plays an important role for the improvement in performance of polymers and their composites. Filler materials are used to reduce the material cost and to improve the mechanical properties to some extent and in some cases to improve processability. Besides it also increases properties like abrasion resistance, hardness and reduces shrinkages. Cenosphere is a ceramic rich industrial waste produced during burning of coal in thermal power plants. The present study deals with the effect of cenosphere as particulate filler on mechanical and tribological behavior of natural fiber reinforced polymer composite. The priority of this work is to prepare polymer matrix composites using jute and glass fiber as reinforcement material to improve the interfacial strength between the fiber and the matrix. The fiber characterization has been carried out by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) method.