Effect of adding Indiana red matta rice husk Si₃N₄ bioceramic on mechanical, wear, flammability and tensile creep behavior of corn husk fiber polyester composite

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of adding Indian red matta rice husk Si3N4 bioceramic on flammability, wear, mechanical and thermal behavior of corn husk fiber‐reinforced polyester composites. The Si3N4 bioceramic was prepared using thermo‐chemical process and subsequently surface‐treated using silane via aqueous solution method. The composites were made using hand layup method and post cured at elevated temperature. The results of this investigation suggest that adding 30 vol% of corn husk fiber improved the mechanical properties as compared to pure epoxy, however the Si3N4 addition outperformed. Similar to this, the composite with 4.0 vol% of bioceramic particle has the highest wear resistances, with a lowest sp. wear rate of 0.008 mm3/Nm and a coefficient of friction of 0.31. According to the flammability results, the composite contains 30 vol% of corn husk fiber and 4 vol% of Si3N4 (ECS3) has the lowered combustion rate of 6.72 mm/min. Finally, the composite ECS3 produced the lowest creep strain of 0.0104, 0.0122, 0.0149, 0.0241, and 0.0444 for 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000, and 10000 s respectively. These composites with improved properties could be used in cutting edge latest technologies as functional materials in automotive, defense, food packaging, structural, and domestic goods manufacturing.