Alkali-treated discontinuous cellulosic fibers (jute and sisal)-based heat-treated silanized fly ash-dispersed hybrid polyester composites were fabricated using a compression molding technique. The morphological features were observed using a scanning electron microscope and a high-resolution transmission electron microscope. The bulk mechanical testing namely, microhardness, tensile, flexural as well as Izod impact was successfully executed. The significant effect of the filler (cellulosic fibers as well as modified fly ash) dispersion within the polymeric matrix with respect to mechanical properties was thoroughly examined in this present investigation.
Alkali-treated sisal fibre-incorporated silanized ZrO2 dispersed unsaturated polyester composites were fabricated with a filler loading of 5, 15, 25, 35, 45 wt%, respectively. The mechanical characterization of the composites was suitably executed at the sub-micron scale using the nanoindentation technique. Various mechanical properties were derived from the standard nanoindentation measurements namely, nanohardness, reduced modulus, recovery index, residual depth, wear rate and indentation creep, respectively. A marked improvement in the mechanical properties of the unsaturated polyester matrix due to the incorporation of the fillers (sisal and/or ZrO2) was observed through indentation-derived parameters namely, nanohardness (∼186%), reduced modulus (∼175%), recovery index (∼62%), wear rate (∼63%) and indentation creep (∼33%), respectively. A simulated dynamic mechanical analysis was performed using the sinus mode of the nanoindentation technique. A similar enhancement in the dynamic mechanical properties of the matrix was further observed through dynamic mechanical analysis as storage modulus (∼71%), loss modulus (∼60%), loss factor (∼150%) and specific damping coefficient (∼200%), respectively.
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