A comparative study of mechanical, dynamic mechanical and thermal properties of rice husk ash, modified rice husk ash and nano silica filled epoxy composites

Abstract This paper reveals the study on the reinforcement effect of rice husk ash (RHA), modified rice husk ash (MRHA) and nanosilica (NS) on epoxy resin such as mechanical, dynamic mechanical and thermal properties of composites. Epoxy- rice husk ash/ modified rice husk ash/ nanosilica composites with concentrations of 0–2.5 phr of filler particles were prepared by mechanical stirring for 45 min followed by sonication for another 30 min. Mechanical thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of epoxy – rice husk ash/ modified rice husk ash/ nanosilica composites were studied. NS filled epoxy composites exhibit 20% improvement in tensile strength over pure epoxy resin. Modulus of the composites increases with filler addition. NS filled epoxy composites show 45% improvement in flexural strength when compared to pure epoxy resin. With the addition of 1.5 phr of NS to epoxy, the impact strength shows an improvement of 86% over the matrix material. TGA studies reveal that epoxy -NS composites have excellent thermal stability. These results prove that NS act as reinforcing material in epoxy-based composites.