Optimizing Biomedical Facilities Performance with Dombeya Fiber-Paper Particle Hybrid Reinforced Epoxy Composites

Abstract

Since the last two decades, the use of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites has garnered significant application considerations over the synthetic fiber reinforced composites due to their numerous advantages and unique properties. Likewise, epoxy resin has attracted the interest of many researchers for composite synthesis, basically because of its chemical stability, thermal and mechanical characteristics. Hence, the primary aim of this study was to investigate the influence of dombeya fiber and paper particulate on the physical and mechanical properties of dombeya fiber and paper particulate-reinforced polymer composites for structural applications. Dombeya fiber and paper particles are renewable and biodegradable materials, thereby making them environmentally friendly materials to replace synthetic materials. Hand lay-up technique was utilized to fabricate the hybrid-reinforced biocomposites after which they were subjected to mechanical, wear, density, and moisture absorption properties. The surface morphology of the fractured surface was also analyzed to investigate its microstructural features. It was discovered from the results that hybrid biocomposites demonstrated improved properties over the unreinforced composite, with composites from 9-wt% dombeya fiber-paper particles reinforced biocomposite exhibiting the most suitable properties with commensurate density with the unreinforced epoxy matrix. These obtained characteristics support the material as a suitable material for biomedical apparatus application such as orthopedic implants, surgical instruments, and bone fixation devices.