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    The role of silica-containing agro-industrial waste as reinforcement on physicochemical and thermal properties of polymer composites

    Year: 2020

    Journal: Heliyon, Volume 6, MAR

    Authors: Rizal, Samsul; Fizree, H. M.; Hossain, Md Sohrab; Ikramullah; Gopakumar, Deepu A.; Ni, Eunice Chong Wan; Khalil, H. P. S. Abdul

    Organizations: Ministry Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia by World Class Professor (WCP) [T/46/D2.3/KK.04.05/2019]

    Keywords: Materials science; Agro-industrial waste; Inorganic SiO2; Oil palm boiler ash; Micro filler; Epoxy composites

    This study was conducted to determine the influence of the oil palm boiler ash (OPBA) reinforcement on the microstructural, physical, mechanical and thermal properties of epoxy polymer composites. The chemical composition analysis of OPBA revealed that it contains about 55 wt.% of SiO2 along with other metallic oxides and elements. The surface morphology of OPBA showed angular and irregular shapes with porous structures. The influence of OPBA as a reinforcement in epoxy composite was studied with varying filler loadings (10-50 wt.%) and different particle sizes (50-150 mu m). The result showed that the incorporation of OPBA in composites has improved the physical, mechanical and thermal properties of the epoxy matrix. The highest physical and mechanical properties of fabricated composites were attained with 30 wt.% loading and size of 50 mu m. Also, thermal stability and the percentage of char residue of the composite increased with increasing filler loading. Furthermore, the contact angle of OPBA reinforced epoxy composites increased with the increase of filler loading. The lowest value of the contact angle was obtained at 30 wt.% of filler loading with the OPBA particle size of 50 mu m. The finding of this study reveals that the OPBA has the potential to be used as reinforcement or filler as well as an alternative of silica-based inorganic fillers used in the enhancement of mechanical, physical and thermal properties of the epoxy polymer composite.
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