Evaluation of mechanical, thermal and water absorption behaviors of Polyalthia longifolia seed reinforced vinyl ester composites
Author
Stalin, B.
Nagaprasad, N.
Vignesh, V.
Ravichandran, M.
Rajini, N.
Ismail, S. O.
Mohammad, F.
Attention
2299/23001
Abstract
This study presents a novel utilization of biomass solid waste, named Polyalthia longifolia (Mast tree) seed as a reinforcement in a composite, using a compression molding technique. An attempt was made to reinforce vinyl ester matrix (VE) with Polyalthia longifolia seed filler (PLSF), ranging from 5 to 50 wt% loadings. Mechanical properties of the fabricated Polyalthia longifolia seed filler/vinyl ester (PLSF-VE) composite samples were tested and analyzed. The results showed that the PLSF-VE composite exhibited optimum mechanical properties at 25 % wt of filler loading; ultimate tensile strength and modulus were approximately 32.50 MPa and 1.23 GPa, respectively. The ultimate flexural, impact strengths and hardness were observed around 125 MPa, 31.09 kJ/m2 and 36.50, respectively. The heat deflection test and thermo-gravimetric analysis depicted that the PLSF-VE composites withstood up to 66 oC and 430 oC, respectively. Furthermore, the PLSF and its various composite samples were studied, using energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM).