Manufacturing and optimization of the mechanical properties (tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact energy) of a chicken feather/egg shell/kaolin hybrid reinforced epoxy composite using the Taguchi technique

The need for sustainable materials for various structural applications has increased over the years, and the exploration of alternative and sustainable sources of these materials is of serious importance. This study extensively studies the effects of various manufacturing parameters on the performance of chicken feather hybrid reinforced epoxy composites. With the aim of developing materials that are sustainable and structurally reliable, the tensile, flexural, and impact energy of the composite were optimized using the robust Taguchi optimization technique in which four factors, namely chicken feather fiber content, eggshell ash content, kaolin content, and particle size, were considered. Results showed that the optimum tensile, flexural, and impact energies of the materials were 64.66 MPa, 74.84 MPa, and 1.3659 J, respectively. Statistical analysis at a 95% confidence level showed the significance of the interaction of chicken feather fiber content and eggshell ash content on the impact energy of the developed composite material with a P-value of 0.029. Equations modeling the tensile, flexural, and impact energy of the materials were also developed, and good reliability of 93.43%, 59.57%, and 75.25% for the tensile strength, flexural strength, and the impact energy, respectively, for trend prediction was also obtained.