Mechanical characterization and machining performance evaluation of rice husk/epoxy an agricultural waste based composite material

Natural fibers from agricultural waste have received more attraction than traditional synthetic fibers in recent years. In present investigation epoxy/rice husk composite has been fabricated to utilize the agricultural waste which can be recycled easily and overcome the pollution problems due to smoke and fine silica ash. Study of interfacial bonding and dispersion of rice husk in epoxy resin has been studied through scanning electron microscope image. Characterization of fabricated composites has been done by mechanical properties. Ultimate tensile strength, Young’s Modulus and hardness are highest at 10 wt.% of rice husk particle and their values are 66.5 MPa, 616.46 MPa and 16.8 HV respectively. Machinability of epoxy/rice husk composites has been determined through drilling operation. Effect of feed rate (0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mm/rev), speed (300, 600 and 900 rpm) and wt.% of reinforcement (10, 15 & 20) have been studied on machinability of epoxy/rice husk composites. Taguchi L27 orthogonal array has been applied to conduct the experiments to evaluate the performance characteristics viz thrust force and torque. Weight percentage was found the most significant factor for machinability followed by feed rate and speed