Investigation of Thermal, Mechanical, and Tribological Behaviour of Biobased-resin-crosslinked, Sisal-fibre-reinforced Epoxy Composites

The wide-reaching potential demands for exchanging petroleum-derived raw materials with renewable plant-based ones in the production of valuable polymeric materials and composites are quite substantial from the collective and ecological viewpoints. Hence, cheap renewable sources has profoundly drawn attention by many investigators for polymer composite processing. Among them, biobased resin and natural fibres are likely to be the ideal alternative feedstock, derived from plant sources, are found in abundance in the world.The significant feature of these types of materials is that they can be designed and tailored to meet diverse requirements.The actual challenge exists in finding applications, which would use adequately large amounts of these materials allowing biodegradable polymers to compete economically in the market.Absence of materialsâ s mechanical and tribological characterization have created an awareness to accomplish this crucial objective. In order to comprehend the feasibility of biobased materials incorporation in polymer composite processing for structural and tribological application , this thesis work elucidates the study of friction and wear characteristics of epoxy matrix and composites made out of biobased crosslinking agent and natural fibre available profusely in plants. An epoxy resin was cross-linked with synthetic and bio-based cross-linking agents, and the effects of this cross-linking on the resinâ s mechanical and tribological properties were investigated.The determined concentration of biobased crosslinking agent was optimized by comparing epoxy network tensile strength properties. The effect of crosslinker concentration, reinforcement agent was studied under dry sliding.The dry-sliding wear resistance property of bio-based cross-linker-cured, sisal fibre reinforced epoxy network was found to be superior, due to enhanced flexibility. The functional groups, nature of curing and degradation of epoxy resin with different crosslinking agent was studied through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermograviemetric analysis technique. The wear tracks were quantified with scanning electron microscope and optical microscope.The numerical analysis of the dry sliding wear testing process further confirmed the experimental findings as they related to the effects of normal load on the specific wear rate of composites. An empirical relationship between wear behavior and mechanical properties of epoxy network was established.Ph.D