Thermo-mechanical and mechanical performance of interlaced glass fiber epoxy hybrid composites reinforced with almond biochar biofiller

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of incorporating waste biomass-derived biochar into epoxy hybrid composites reinforced with glass fiber (GF). Hand lay-up methods were used to fabricate interlaced composites, maintaining a constant 20% weight fraction of glass fiber while varying the filler content from 0 to 20% by weight. The biochar filler, obtained from almond shells, was uniformly dispersed within the epoxy resin using ultrasonication. The mechanical properties (MPs), water absorption (WA), and thermomechanical (TM) of the almond biochar hybrid polymer composites (PCs) were comprehensively examined. Experimental results indicate that composites containing higher proportions of biochar filler exhibit increased water absorption. Notably, the tensile strength (TS) and flexural strength (FS) of the 10% almond biochar particulate addition exhibit the highest values 324.66 MPa and 376.12 MPa, respectively. The ABC10 composite shows an increase of 21.36 MPa in TS and 13.17% in FS compared to the ABC0 composite. Scanning electron microscopy analysis elucidates the dispersion of particles within the composites and the tensile mode of failure. Dynamic properties reveal improved damping characteristics, with the addition of 10% filler leading to higher storage modulus (SM) and loss modulus (LM). The ABC10 interleaved composite exhibited a maximum SM of 8496.4 MPa, which is 24.9% higher than that of the ABC0 interleaved composite, indicating increased stiffness. This suggests that the ABC polymer composites increased stiffness contributed to the higher storage modulus. Overall, this study underscores the potential of utilizing biomass waste-derived almond shell biochar as a cost-effective reinforcement in polymer composites, demonstrating its efficacy in enhancing various material properties.