Evaluation of mechanical properties of biodegradable coconut shell/rice husk Powder polymer composites for light weight applications

Abstract The technological fashion concerning waste utilization and cost reduction in industrial processing has been certainly attracted to the use of natural fiber composites in present as well as the future of engineering. This research work has been carried out to investigate the potential uses of bio-degradable wastage from the environmental plant-based fiber-reinforced composites. In this concern, the renewable natural materials are collected and the machining process such as a planetary ball milling process is carried out for attaining a homogeneous size distribution of reinforcement materials. A diverse volume fraction of combinations is carried out in the preparation of composite materials comprising of renewable natural materials. The manufacturing of composite materials is carried out with the volume fraction of 40%, 30%, 20% reinforcement material of Coconut Shell Powder (CSP), Rice Husk Powder (RHP) and 60%, 70%, 80% matrix material of Vinyl Ester (VE) and Super Vinyl Ester (SVE). Manufacturing is carried out by using the hand layup method. Mechanical Properties such as tensile strength and flexural strength has been evaluated for the manufactured composites to establish the possibility of using it as a new material for engineering application. In this framework, the scope of the composite materials market is projected to develop at a promising compound annual growth rate of 12.94 percent during the forecast period of 2015 to 2020 to reach USD 11.26 billion by 2020. Composite materials made of natural biodegradable materials are making rapid inroads into India’s traditional markets for building materials, households, and automobile parts (load free areas).