Thermo-mechanical characterizations and erosion wear studies of fumed silica-reinforced jute/epoxy composites

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of nano-fumed silica content on thermo-mechanical properties of jute/epoxy composites. The results reveal that jute composites without filler (JJJJ-0) exhibited highest tensile strength (33.01�MPa) and percentage elongation (1.9522%), while composites with 1.5% and 2.5% filler demonstrated the highest tensile modulus (1967�MPa) and flexural modulus (2432.9�MPa), respectively. The observation demonstrates that as the filler content increases in jute composites, tensile strength decreases but flexural strength increases. However, an exception is noted for sample containing excess filler (3.5%), which exhibited the lowest flexural strength (44.36�MPa). The composite with 2.5% filler exhibited the highest flexural strength (53.5�MPa). Thermal analysis indicated that the addition of nanofiller enhanced both the activation energy (Ea) and thermal stability of the jute composites. A four-layer carbon composite without filler (CCCC-0) was also fabricated in order to compare wear and thermal stability performance with jute composites. The wear study was performed at different temperatures and found that JJJJ-3.5 composite exhibited superior wear resistance at ambient temperature, while CCCC-0 composite had better wear resistance at high temperatures. Also, the surface morphology of the eroded surface was examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to study the failure mechanism of composites. � The Author(s) 2024.