MICROSTRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF COCONUT SHELL REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITES

摘要

Demand for food supply to meet up with increasing people's population has increased agricultural productions over years with consequent release of huge amount of lignocellulosic wastes which are potential sources of carbon and nitrogen compounds for polymer reinforcement. Coconut shell nanoparticles (CSp) have been used as reinforcement for producing epoxy composites. Morphology of the composites were examined and their responses to tensile loading, hardness and impact energy were studied. Results obtained indicated homogeneous dispersion of CSp within the epoxy matrix and 45% increase in tensile strength was noticed at 12% by weight of CSp addition. The increase in micro hardness values due to coconut shell addition limited the impact energy of the developed epoxy composite. The produced epoxy-CSp composites are potential materials for weight-saving applications such as in automobile tubs.