Mechanical property analysis of biochar derived from cashew nut shell waste reinforced polymer matrix

Abstract

Disposal of organic wastes with no reduction in intensity produces greenhouse gas, which affects the environment and its climatic conditions. Because of the increasing urge to save the environment and to add value for the waste, these can be converted into a value-added product. The development of biochar-based polymer composites from such wastes could be an effective and efficient one for various applications. This work focuses on new development of composite reinforced with biochar, prepared from cashew nutshell waste (CNSL) by the pyrolysis process. The CNSL waste is closely packed in an airtight container and heated at the temperature of 500° C for 1 h in a stir casting furnace. This CNSL biochar is used as reinforcement in unsaturated polyester resin for composite fabrication. The composites are prepared by the solution dispersion method at different weight percentages of 5, 10, and 15. The prepared specimens are subjected to tensile flexural and impact strength studies. Compared to unfilled composite 10% biochar filled composite shows maximum tensile, flexural, impact and hardness strength and their improvement percentages are 21, 41 & 37 respectively.Interestingly, the maximum flexural strength is noticed at 15% filled composites with a 40% improvement in strength.