Performance of coconut shell particulate filled polyester composites

Tensile and flexural properties of coconut shell particulate reinforced polyester resin matrix based composites were evaluated to assess the possibility of using these filler as a new eco-friendly material in engineering applications. composites were made out of the function of coconut shell powder with different weight variations viz. 10,15,20,25 and 30 wt %,treated with 5% naoh alkali solution and these were prepared by hand lay-up process. performance was increased gradually as filler content increased from 10 to 25 wt %. on the other hand decline of the properties were observed when filler content was beyond 25 wt %,heat deflection temperature (hdt) increased up to certain percentage (i.e. 25 wt %) of filler in polyester above which no influence in its value was observed. the glass transition temperature (tg) and thermal stability was improved significantly. scanning electron microscopy (sem) micrographs were also studied to illustrate the particle/matrix interactions. these composites were further subjected to an evaluation ofthermogravimetric,differential scanning calorimetry,and heat deflection temperature (hdt) analysis.