Influence of SiC nanoparticles on properties of alkali-treated areca fruit husk fiber/hybrid polymer composites

This work presents the comprehensive characterization of alkali treated areca fruit husk fiber (AAFHF) an industrial agro-waste reinforced unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) matrix hybrid composite with silicon carbide (SiC) nanoparticles as filler material. Hybrid composite plates were fabricated with 40 wt% of AAFHF and diverse wt% of SiC nanoparticles ranging from 1 to 4 wt% in steps of 1 wt%. The effect of wt% of SiC nanoparticles in hybrid composite over mechanical, morphological, wear, thermal and water absorption characteristics was investigated. The findings help to conclude that a hybrid composite plate with 3 wt% filler content excels in overall properties. Meanwhile, the accumulation and meager scattering of SiC nanoparticles in composite deteriorated the functional characteristics when the wt% of filler content enhanced to 4 wt%. Also, the failure pattern and interaction between AAFHF, SiC nanoparticle and UPR were understood from the images obtained using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). In addition, the availability of functional groups, crystallite size and crystallinity index was obtained from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis for the optimum filler content respectively. Moreover, the achieved results suggest the suitability of the developed composite for marine and lightweight applications.