Extraction and characterization of novel Prosopis Juliflora bark and Boehmeria nivea fibre for use as reinforcement in the hybrid composites with the effect of curing temperature, fibre length and weight percentages.

The hybrid composite sample based on Prosopis Juliflora (PJ) bark and ramie fibre with different length, weight percentage, and curing temperature were created for the first time in this work. Totally, 120 hybrid composite samples were tested in this study. There were five different fibre lengths: 10 mm, 15 mm, 20 mm, 25 mm, and 30 mm, weight percentages 10 %, 20 %, 30 %, 40 %, and 50 %, and different curing temperatures 80 °C, 90 °C, 100 °C, 110 °C, and 120 °C used to produce the hybrid composite samples. Due to the cross-linking ability with the epoxy matrix, the hybrid composite specimen shows high resistance up to 98 Shore D hardness. The high polarity of the epoxy matrix and the hydrogen bond strengthening effect, increased the composite sample flexural strength by 12 %. The curing temperature of 100 °C, 20 mm fibre length, and 30 % of the hybrid composite sample achieved the highest tensile strength (28.76 MPa), flexural strength (46.54 MPa), impact strength (4.5 J), and hardness strength properties (98 shore D). Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed the composite samples initial decomposition temperature (Ti) at 98 °C, maximum decomposition temperature (Tmax) at 320 °C, and the final decomposition temperature (Tf) at 466 °C.

Testing of Silicon Rubber/Montmorillonite Nanocomposite for Mechanical and Tribological Performance.

Nanocomposite made by blending nano-montmorillonite (MMT) and Silicon Rubber (SR) for mechanical and tribological performance is explored in this work. Different configurations of MMT/SR nanocomposite, with 0, 0.5, 2 and 5 wt % of MMT are manufactured by two roll mixing methods. Noticeable improvement in the mechanical and tribological performance is observed, which is also justified by a morphological study of fractured and wear surfaces through SEM. Two percent of MMT loading is found to be the optimum content that shows excellent performance compared to other compositions. The performance improvement can be linked to the good interfacial interaction between the MMT and SR. Statistical modeling through ANOVA is carried out for tribological performance, which reveals the influence of load on the coefficient of friction (COF) and the influence of sliding distance on the wear rate.