Impact of zinc oxide nanoparticles on the mechanical properties of coir fiber reinforced composites for sustainable development

Last few decades the light weight polymer composites play a key role in engineering applications. In recent days Polymer composites gain more attention nowadays than the conventional materials and nanomaterials-based polymer composites reveal better functionalities than traditional materials. The size of the filler is found to influence the mechanical strength of the composites. In this present study composite samples were prepared with 30 weight% Cocosnucifera fibers in epoxy matrix due to that higher fiber content can impair composite quality like increased viscosity and poor fiber dispersion. The effect of adding different weight% of Zinc oxide nanoparticles (0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2wt %) on the mechanical properties of the composites were investigated. The size of the ZnO particles was between 30 and 50 nm. Studies conducted revealed that the addition of ZnO nanoparticles produced an increase in the mechanical properties of the composites. Optimum mechanical strength was obtained for the composites with 1.5wt% addition of ZnO in the matrix. Scanning electron microscopic studies revealed that failure was due to fiber breakage, pullouts and higher nanoparticle loading produced lack of enough interfacial adhesion between fiber and matrix.