Influence of the fruit waste fillers on the thermal, mechanical, and morphological properties of flax/epoxy composites

In the present research endeavor, the waste shells of pistachio and walnut have been used in the form of fillers to develop hybrid flax epoxy composites. The effect of hybridization on the developed composites was studied in terms of thermal, mechanical, and morphological properties. The properties like tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength, flexural modulus, impact strength, and shore hardness were evaluated to ascertain the mechanical behavior. The thermogravimetric analysis of the composites was also performed in order to determine the thermal stability of the developed composites. The results revealed that pistachio shell filler-based flax/epoxy composites showed improved tensile strength and tensile modulus by over 73.26% and 42.53% in comparison to the control specimen. The walnut shell filler-based flax/epoxy composites also exhibited improved tensile strength and tensile modulus by 66.41% and 17.1% compared to the control specimen. Whereas, the hybrid filler-based flax/epoxy composites were found to be thermally more stable. The fractography of the developed composites was also studied using scanning electron microscope which revealed good filler distribution in the epoxy matrix.