Development and Characterization of Tigernut Fibres Mixed with Nanoclay/epoxy Polymer Composites

Natural fibres have gained huge attention from researchers in the field ofcomposite manufacturing in automotive applications due to their low cost,biodegradability, availability, and high performance. However, due to their highhydroxyl content of cellulose, natural fibres are susceptible to water absorption, whichinvariably affects the mechanical properties of the composite adversely. Researchershave proven that nanomaterials such as Nano silica Carbide (n-Sic) or nanoclay mixedwith the polymer composites can overcome the problem. This study investigates themechanical and microstructural properties of tiger nut fibres reinforced polymercomposites tailored to the automotive application. Tiger nut fibres mixed with nanoclayto the size of 50≤µm were used to reinforce epoxy in three levels of loading 2, 4, 6%respectively. Mechanical and microstructural properties of the composites producedwere examined. The results showed an increasing trend of 84, 99, 102 MPa and 110,125, 138 MPa for tiger nut-epoxy and tiger nut-nanoclay epoxy composites,respectively, in the tensile strength. Also, an increasing trend of 80, 84, 88 BHV and87, 94, 98 BHV were observed for tiger nut-epoxy and tiger nut-nanoclay epoxycomposites, respectively, for hardness. Water absorption capacity decreases as thepercentage weight fractions of the reinforcement increases but increases as the durationof immersion in boiling water increases. The microstructures showed good interfacialadhesion between reinforcement and polymer matrix when mixed with nanoclay. Tigernut fibres show a sustainable material useful for automotive applications.