Comparative Assessment of Mechanical Properties of Groundnut Shell and Rice Husk Reinforced Epoxy Composites

A comparative assessment of mechanical behaviour of groundnut shell and rice husks as reinforcement in epoxy matrix has been investigated in this work. Six specimen each of groundnut shell reinforced epoxy and rice husk reinforced epoxy composites having 2.5%, 5%. 7.5%, 10%, 12.5% and 15% content of groundnut shell and rice husk were produced using the hand lay up technique and their mechanical properties (impact strength, hardness, flexural strength and tensile strength) were evaluated. The highest mechanical properties of the groundnut shell reinforced epoxy composites were: impact strength (7.91 J/mm2 at 12.5%), hardness (7.8 HRF at 5%), flexural strength (43.43 N/mm2 at 12.5% ) and tensile strength (41.60 N/mm2 at 2.5%) while the highest mechanical properties for the rice husk reinforced epoxy composites were: impact strength (4.91 J/mm2 at 7.5%), hardness (8.7 HRF at 2.5%), flexural strength (28.21 N/mm2 at 5%) and tensile strength (16.67 N/mm2 at 5%). Results of this research work indicated that the groundnut shell reinforced epoxy composites have superior mechanical properties as compared to the rice husk reinforced epoxy composites. Since impact strength is the most important property in bumper design, sample EGSC with 12.5% groundnut shell was prepared and used for the production of Bajaj tricycle rear bumper.