Enhancing vinyl ester properties with eco-friendly sustainable biochar filler

Biomass and other biogenic wastes can be used in polymeric materials, allowing for effective waste utilization. Thus, these materials can be converted into biochar and used in composite fabrication. Biochar was used in the current study to improve the mechanical and thermal properties of vinyl ester-based composites. Waste cashew nut shells were converted into biochar via a slow pyrolysis method. Biochar was added at three different levels (5, 10 and 15 wt.%). Composite with 10 wt.% biochar showed ca.72% and ca.54% higher tensile strength and hardness than the neat vinyl ester. The composite containing 15 wt.% biochar showed the highest impact and flexural strength of ca.47 MPa and ca.13 kJ/m2 respectively. The thermo-gravimetric study showed that the composites with 15 wt.% added biochar performed better than the others, with a yield percentage of ca.45%. This study provides a summary of biochar applications and highlights the advantages of biomass wastes with respect to energy and environmental sustainability for the production of strong and thermally stable composites.