A Study on Characterization and Comparison of Alkali Treated and Untreated Coconut shell Powder Reinforced Polyester Composites

Natural Lignocellulosics material like coconut shell has an outstanding potential as reinforcement in thermoset matrix. In this study, Composites were prepared by incorporating treated and untreated coconut shell powder at different filler contents (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 php) into Unsaturated Polyester matrix. An alkali treatment was used to enhance both the matrix filler wetting and the chemical surface modification in order to improve the physicochemical interactions at the filler? matrix interphase. A catalyst, Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide (MEKP) was used to initiate the polymerization reaction. The results from Universal testing machine revealed that increased in coconut shell content have increased the tensile & flexural strength. Treated coconut shell filled composite showed slightly higher mechanical properties and lower water absorption than the untreated one. The chemical bonding between the filler and polymer matrix were characterized by using the Fourier Transformer Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Result from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that increased in filler content have increased the tendency of filler-matrix interaction. Keywords: Universal Testing Machine, Unsaturated Polyester Resin, Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide, Alkaline Treatment, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transformer Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR).