Influence of areca nut nanofiller on mechanical and tribological properties of coir fibre reinforced epoxy based polymer composite

Abstract

The present study is aimed at investigating the effect of incorporating arecanut nano filler on the tribological behaviour of coir reinforced epoxy based polymer matrix composite. Areca nut nano filler is produced by grinding followed by ball milling. Particle size analyzer confirmed the size of nano fillers obtained are in the range of 20-100 nm. Composites with different weight percentage of nano filler (0%, 5%, and 10%) were studied for their mechanical and tribological behaviour using pin on disc rig. Tensile, Flexural, Interlaminar shear and impact tests are carried out on the proposed composite. Taguchi's technique is used for analysing effect of various factors on the tribological behaviour of the composite. The results showed that inclusion of arecanut nano filler enhanced the microhardness of the composite, with inclusion of arecanut filler the tensile strength increased up to 5 %, later there is a decrease in tensile strength. Flexural strength significantly increases with increase in filler percentage from 0% to 5%, but the variation of flexural strength from 5% to 10% is negligible. Inclusion of filler has negligible effect on the interlaminar shear strength of composites. Impact strength and wear resistance of the composite is enhanced with incorporation of filler.