Superior Mechanical and Visco-elastic Properties of Fly-Ash Filled Woven Glass Fabric Reinforced Phenolic Composite and their Correlation with Interfacial Interaction Parameters

Fly ash (FA) is a byproduct of coal combustion, particularly in coal-based power plants. If FA is released into the open atmosphere or land, it becomes a major source of air and water pollution. The impact of FA on woven glass fabric-phenolic composite laminates is examined in the present study to find the application of FA in the structural field. The hand layup method is used to apply the FA-phenolic resin slurry (0 to 20 wt% FA) onto the woven glass fabric surface, followed by compression molding to get composites. The viscoelastic and static mechanical properties are evaluated using a dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer and a universal testing machine. The results show significant improvement in the flexural strength (26%), flexural modulus (31%), storage modulus (37.9%), and loss modulus (44%) of FA-GFRP composites. The interfacial interaction parameters such as entanglement density, reinforcing efficiency factor, and adhesion factors (b and C-factors) are also evaluated and correlated with other properties to understand the impact of FA on the performance of FA-GFRP composites.