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Experimental Investigation on Thermal and Transport Properties of Indian Almond – Kenaf Hybrid Composites for Construction Applications

ABSTRACT Construction industries demand a material with high strength to endure severe environmental conditions like high temperature and humid and hence, it is noteworthy to assess the thermal and water transport properties of the material. In this investigation, the natural fibers based composites were fabricated using Indian almond and kenaf fibers by hand layup method. Entirely, two natural fiber composites viz. epoxy/Indian almond & epoxy/kenaf and two hybrid composites viz. kenaf/India almond/kenaf (K/I/K) & Indian almond/kenaf/Indian almond (I/K/I) were prepared. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was carried out to analyze the thermal properties and water absorption study was carried out to analyze the transport properties. TGA study showed that the epoxy/kenaf composite exhibited a maximum onset temperature of 340.49°C owing to good bonding strength and the K/I/K composite displayed a maximum decomposition temperature of 380.21 ° with a minimum mass loss of 1.29 mg/min. Further, the epoxy/Indian almond composite showed a better flame retardancy property due to more char formation. Water absorption study resulted that the epoxy/Indian almond composite absorbed more water (35% at 50°C) compared to other composites due to spongy like structure and the presence of more voids on the surface of the fiber. Further, the epoxy/kenaf composite displayed more resistance to water penetration with maximum activation energy of diffusion of 2.63 kJ/mole. Transport properties such as diffusion coefficient, sorption coefficient and permeability coefficient were varied in line with temperature. The epoxy/kenaf composite showed least diffusion coefficient of 2.48 × 10−5 cm2/s, sorption coefficient of 1.05, and permeability coefficient of 2.61 × 10−5 cm2/s at 30°C among all other composites due to good bonding strength.