INVESTIGATIONS ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BIO-WASTE MICRO PARTICLES REINFORCED PHENOL FORMALDEHYDE COMPOSITES

A characteristic study on the phenol formaldehyde (PF) composite is carried out based on the micro level bio waste particles such as wood sawdust (WSD) and coir pith (CP). Composite is characterized by mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural and impact at different percentages of particles (0-50% by weight) to find out the optimum percentage of particle loading to get the maximum properties. The WSD/CP/PF hybrid composite is also prepared by two different methods i.e., one: one (1:1) ratio and rule of mixture. The first method (1:1) is used to find out the optimum level of hybrid particles loading to get the maximum properties. But, the second method is followed to find out the weight percentages of particles influencing the properties of resulting composite. The results show that the mechanical properties of WSD/PF are higher than CP/PF composite in the entire particle loading. The optimum particle loading to get the maximum properties is 40 wt.% in CP/PF composite, whereas for WSD/PF composite are at 30 wt.%. The hybrid composite (1:1) also gives the maximum properties at 30 wt.%. Moreover, the hybrid composite (20WSD/10CP) prepared by rule of mixture showed the highest mechanical properties compared to the other particle loading. It is identified that the WSD particles are most influencing the properties of PF composites than the CP particles. Fractographic study was performed using scanning electron microscope to examine the failure mechanism of the composite specimens.