Synthesis and characterization of sea urchin spike strengthened grape seed oil-epoxy composite coating material

High toughness grape seed oil-epoxy based composite coating material was prepared in this present study with sea urchin (Echinoidea) spike particle (SSP) for weather protection and insect repellent anti rusting coating applications. The main aim of this research was to study the effect of adding SSP along with grape seed oil in epoxy resin composite and their mechanical, thermal and barrier properties. The SSP used in this present study was prepared from marine waste dead sea-urchin spikes using ball-milling process. The prepared particles are then silane treated using aminosilane via acid hydrolysis. According to the results of the present study, the hardness values showed an increment of 7% for 4.0 vol% of SSP and 10 vol% of grape seed oil for composite designation EGS4. Similarly, the wear properties showed that the sp. wear rate and COF decreases up to 0.007 mm(3)/Nm and 0.51 for composite designation EGS4. However, for 10 vol% of grape seed oil and 0.5 vol% minimum mechanical properties were observed. The better thermal stability was observed for composite designation EGS4 whereas the barrier properties increased with 10 vol% of grape seed oil and 0.5 vol% of SSP. Nevertheless it is noted that the addition of SSP reduces the oxygen permeability and marginally increased the water permeability. These mechanically, thermally and barrier properties strengthened epoxy bio composite coating materials could be used in food packaging, medical and household product making applications.