Effects of particle size on structural, physical, mechanical and tribology behaviour of agricultural waste (corncob micro/nano-filler) based epoxy biocomposites

Solid waste management is one of the major problems in the twenty-first century. Utilizations of the food/Agro waste materials are crucial to reduce the pollution from the environment. The development of sustainable and biodegradable biocomposites from these wastages is gaining much attention in the research fields. This paper deals with the consumption of corncob waste after the use of corn seeds to develop biocomposites. The biocomposites have been fabricated at five different particles size of corncob (425–500 µm, 325–400 µm, 225-300 µm, 125-200 µm and 25–100 µm) with epoxy matrix and characterized their physical, mechanical, thermal and tribology behaviour. The results analysed that the performances of developed biocomposites increased with reducing the particles sizes. CCF-5 bio-fillers recorded 23% higher crystallinity compared to CCF-1 that increased the interfacial interaction of reinforcements and reduced the water uptake capabilities. The mechanical performances of biocomposites like tensile strength (41.47 MPa), flexural strength (48.67 MPa), and hardness (46) have been examined maximum for CCH-4 while, tensile modulus (1.45GPa) and flexural modulus (3.35GPa) are maximum for CCH-5 biocomposites. The wear and friction behaviour of the developed biocomposites have been investigated by varying the applied load (10 N, 15 N, and 20 N) at dry and wet conditions using a pin on the disc wear testing machine. The CCH-4 biocomposites showed lowest volume loss and specific wear rate at every loading condition as well as high thermal stability with 28.168% of residual mass at 800 ºC. The addition of corncob bio-filler resulted in economical and cost-saving materials with improved mechanical properties and wear resistance compared to conventional materials.