DefinePK

Abstract

An environmental issues which has become major concern in composite field is the main reason to develop replacement of synthetic filler with natural filler. In this research, the effect of filler content and particle size of cockle-shell powder in epoxy on the impact strength and water absorption of the composite were studied. Epoxy resin was used as the matrix, and cockle-shell powder was used as filler with variation of filler content viz. 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% (wt.) and the particle sizes were varied from 50, 110, to 170 mesh. The composite was prepared by using compression moulding, and was tested to obtain impact strength and water absorption. The results showed that the highest improvement of the impact strength was occurred on the incorporation of 30% (wt.) and 170 mesh of cockle-shell powder. This was supported by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterization result. It was also revealed that the water absorption was significantly increased as the particle size of the filler was increased.