Evaluation of mechanical, thermal and water absorption behaviors of Polyalthia longifolia seed reinforced vinyl ester composites

This study presents a novel utilization of biomass solid waste, named Polyalthia longifolia (Mast tree) seed as a reinforcement in a composite, using a compression molding technique. An attempt was made to reinforce vinyl ester matrix (VE) with Polyalthia longifolia seed filler (PLSF), ranging from 5 to 50 wt% loadings. Mechanical properties of the fabricated Polyalthia longifolia seed filler/vinyl ester (PLSF-VE) composite samples were tested and analyzed. The results showed that the PLSF-VE composite exhibited optimum mechanical properties at 25 % wt of filler loading; ultimate tensile strength and modulus were approximately 32.50 MPa and 1.23 GPa, respectively. The ultimate flexural, impact strengths and hardness were observed around 125 MPa, 31.09 kJ/m2 and 36.50, respectively. The heat deflection test and thermo-gravimetric analysis depicted that the PLSF-VE composites withstood up to 66 oC and 430 oC, respectively. Furthermore, the PLSF and its various composite samples were studied, using energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM).