Physical and mechanical characterization of marble Dust/Wheat straw fiber filled polymer composites

The purpose of this work is to discuss about the feasibility of fabrication of hybrid composites that are filled with a mixture of marble dust and biodegradable short natural fibers i.e., wheat straw. In today's world need of composite is growing in a variety of fields. There is a need of lightweight, strong, wear resistive yet cost effective composite materials to match the competition in the market. Therefore, many research works are carried out in this field to identify the potential reinforcing capacity of materials. One of these materials is marble dust. This waste can be used a potential filler material in polymer composite upon mixing it with appropriate materials like short wheat straw fibers. Epoxy-based composites are prepared with keeping marble dust content constant to 10 wt% and different weight proportions wheat straw fiber varying from 0 to 4 wt%. Physical and mechanical properties have been studied of these composites. It is observed that tensile strength, flexural strength and micro-hardness of marble dust filled composites increase with increase in the wheat straw fiber content. The enhanced properties of these composites make them suitable for a wide range of product ranging from industrial to household uses. Copyright (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 4th International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Nanotechnology.