Investigation into Mechanical, Thermal and Water Absorption Behaviors of Cocos nucifera Shell Filler Reinforced Vinyl Ester Polymeric Composites

Recently, natural filler reinforced polymer composites are important materials for various engineering applications. Hence, this present work focuses on utilization of Cocos nucifera shell powder (CNSP) as a filler in vinyl ester (VE) resin to produce particulate composite specimens. The particulate composite plates with various weights or filler contents from 5 to 30 wt% were fabricated, using compression molding technique. The fabricated composites were subjected to tensile, flexural, impact, hardness, heat deflection and swelling behavior tests to obtain their corresponding material properties. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis was carried out on the C. nucifera shell powder/vinyl ester (CNSP/VE) composite specimens to investigate into the presence of their elements, in addition to the aforementioned tests. From the experimental results obtained, it was observed that the optimum mechanical properties of CNSP/VE composites were obtained at 15 wt% of filler content, having tensile, flexural and impact strengths of 38.70, 105.13 MPa and 33.04 kJ/m², respectively. Also, the heat deflection temperature results varied from 158 (0 wt%, neat VE resin) to 171 °C along various percentages of filler contents. Lastly, the morphological study/analysis of the fractured CNSP/VE composite specimens was conducted by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to confirm the experimental data/results obtained. It was evident that CNSP/VE composite structures could be potential substitutes for some synthetic composites. Also, they are suitable for various engineering applications in aerospace, electrical/electronics and automobile industries, based on their properties.