Experimental investigation of pineapple fiber and calcinated poultry egg shell powder epoxy composites

In this research, the effect of calcinated egg shell particles and pineapple fiber woven mat in epoxy resin composite and their mechanical, wear, thermal, and water absorption behavior was studied. The primary aim of this research was to investigate how the silane-treatment influences the surfaces of natural particles and pineapple fiber in epoxy composite during characterization. The fiber and particle were silane surface treated using APTMS aminosilane before composite fabrication and the laminates were prepared by hand layup process. The results show improved mechanical properties with the addition of 40 vol. % of fiber and 2.0 vol. % of eggshell particle for composite designation RPE1, RPE2, and RPE3 by 65%, 44%, 93%, and 8% correspondingly. Similarly, enhancement in wear resistances is observed for composite designation RPE3 by the addition of 2.0 vol. % of eggshell particles. TGA shows the increase in decomposition temperature by the inclusion of 40 vol. % fiber and 2.0 vol. % eggshell particle for composite designation RPE3. On the other hand, the water absorption raises as increased particle addition maximum up to 0.23% as compared to pure epoxy. Such mechanically toughened, wear resistances, and thermally stable composites could be used in various industrial applications, automotive sectors, as well as aerospace and defence divisions.