Evaluation of Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Biowaste and Biowaste Based Silica Particulate Epoxy Composites

This paper reports the mechanical-erosion wear properties of extracted silica from Biowaste (rice husk) and pure rice husk-filled epoxy composites. A comparison is made on the influence of dispersed silica and rice husk particles on the properties of the epoxy composites. The composites are fabricated by hand lay-up process. The specimens are tested as per the ASTM standards for three different filler loadings of each silica and rice husk separately (2,4 and 6wt%). It is perceived that with the increase in the rice husk filler loading in epoxy, there is a decline in tensile, flexural, and erosion wear properties. It is also evident that, with the increase in silica content until 6 %, the tensile and flexural strength have displayed consistent enhancement. Alongside, erosion results confirm that the properties of the pure epoxy had exhibited transition from semi-brittle to ductile nature due to the addition of silica fillers.