Authors:
Firoz Alam Faroque; Sanchita Bandyopadhyay-Ghosh;
Abstract:
Tiles are generally manufactured using ceramic materials or concrete. An attempt has been made here to manufacture tiles using thermoset polymer epoxy resin as matrix and waste wheat straw residue as fillers. Wheat straw residual filler was efficiently incorporated within epoxy resin matrix to fabricate a range of biocomposites tiles. Two different loading levels of fillers were subjected to either alkali (NaOH) treatment or a combination of silane and alkali treatment. These biocomposite tiles were investigated for microstructural changes and various mechanical, physical, and thermal properties. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy studies indicated strong interactions of the functional groups of epoxy resin and wheat straw fillers. Fractured biocomposite samples observed under Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) further suggested better bonding between filler and matrix. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed enhanced thermal stability upon dual treatment. Substantial improvement in water resistance, flexural strength, and flexural modulus of biocomposite samples also could be achieved upon dual treatment.
Keywords:
biocomposite, wheat straw, alkali treatment, silane coupling agent, epoxy resin, waste filler.