Thermal and mechanical investigation of chemically treated hybrid biomass epoxy bio-composite: An approach of pyrolysis kinetics

This work includes that application of agro wastes in polymer composites are trending at present due to the enormous potential available in the area of biopolymer composites. Due to the increasing production of various composites, there will be a major portion of plastic waste in the form of composite polymer. Rice husk, wood floor, sunnhemp, inorganic fibers, forestry residue and other biomass are widely used in bio-composite. Hybrid fiber provides the scope of enhancing the weight proportion of reinforcements in composites. Surface treatment of these lignocellulosic fibers, before reinforcement is an important & major area of interest regarding treatment effects on the developed composites. In this research article, the authors examined the efficacy of reinforcement of pretreated hybrid natural fibers with polymer as well as their energy potential considering a disposal concern after end use through incineration. So, pyrolysis behavior becomes significant. Here an alkali-treated rice husk composite property is scaled with a hybrid composite of rice husk and sunnhemp, maintaining the same weight ratio. The developed samples are analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, and mechanical characterization of both the composites. Crystallinity of hybrid composites were found enhanced. Pyrolysis kinetics reveals that the activation energy of composites depends upon reinforcement of used biomass and for sunnhemp and rice husk reinforced composite it was found lower as compared to single rice husk reinforced composite.