Abstract

Studies on wood carbons / unsaturated polyester composites

Author(s): N.Prabu, Mansur Ahmed, S.Guhanathan

General purpose unsaturated polyester resin (GPR) specimens containing carbon (Teak wood, Ground nut, Neem wood and Rose wood) prepared from environmental waste were fabricated using casting technique. Fabricated composite materials were subjected to various studies viz., Thermal (TGA/DSC), mechanical (hardness), morphology and X-ray diffraction studies. SEM images were carried out to identify toughening. The inadequacy of the bond between filler and thematrix showminor particle agglomerations in specimens containing higher weight percentage (40%) were believed to have responsible for a consistent decrease in property especially the mechanical properties like hardness. Results of the studies implies that neem based carbon found to have superior in properties than that of rest of the carbon based composite in overall properties.