Visco-Elastic, Thermal, Antimicrobial and Dielectric Behaviour of Areca Fibre-Reinforced Nano-silica and Neem Oil-Toughened Epoxy Resin Bio Composite

Epoxy bio composite was prepared using areca fibre, nano-silica and toughened by neem oil bio blender (anti-microbial content) for various engineering applications. The principal aim of this research work is to reveal the need and importance of adding nano-silica particles (a natural antibacterial substance) into neem oil when it is blended with epoxy resin to form a bio-composite. The nano-silica particle and areca fibre have been surface-treated by an amino silane 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) for better dispersion on neem-epoxy blended matrix medium. The composites were prepared using hand layup method with post-cured at 120 degrees C in a hot oven. The composites have been tested in accordance with ASTM standards. The visco-elastic analysis shows that the storage modulus of 2 vol.% of nano-silica particles in 30 vol.% of areca-reinforced epoxy-neem composite found to be higher up to 9.8 GPa at room temperature and 1.8 GPa at 120 degrees C. The loss factor also found to be higher at the glass transition temperature. The differential scanning calorimetry results showed that the composites contain 2 vol.% of nano-silica particles retains the glass transition (Tg) at higher neem oil blending (20 vol.%) as higher than epoxy resin. The antimicrobial behaviour of neem-epoxy composite was increased by the addition of 2 vol.% of nano-silica. Finally, the electrical insulation studies revealed that the composites built with non-polar neem oil and partial polar nano-silica not altered the electrical resistance much. These antimicrobial enhanced and thermo-mechanically strengthened epoxy bio composites could be used as food storage containers, medical components carrier and domestic appliance manufacturing.