Activated carbon material was synthesized by two stage pyrolysis and chemical activation method using arhar fiber biomass as precursor. The effect of activation temperature on the characteristics of activated carbon materials was explored. Temperatures of 700°C, 800°C, and 900°C were used for the production of activated carbon materials. BET surface area, pore size, and pore volume were studied using N2 adsorption analysis. Activated carbon prepared at 800°C temperature was found to be effective; exhibited 504.6 m2/g surface area and pore volume of 0.245569 cm3/g with micropores of less than 20 Å diameter. XRD analysis of the material exhibited broad and sharp peaks in the range of 18 to 30 (2θ), confirming amorphous structure. From thermogravimetric analysis, it was noticed that activated carbon has high thermal stability. It was left with 62% of residual mass when subjected to 1400°C temperature. Activated carbon material synthesized at 800°C was used as filler while epoxy functioned as matrix material for fabrication of composites. The effect of filler loading on the tensile strength of composites was studied. Tensile strength of composite material increased with addition of filler loading. It was observed that composite with 2% filler loading had a maximum tensile strength of 56 MPa.

In the current research work an attempt is made to utilize the ecofriendly biochar materials as reinforcements in polymer composites. Biochar materials were developed from Arhar stalks and Bael shells waste biomass by pyrolysis process and studied for different characteristics. The surface morphology, crystalline structure, fixed carbon content and elemental composition of synthesized biochar materials were studied using scanning electron microscope, x-ray diffraction and proximate analysis. The results showed that the biochar (BB) produced using Bael shells are highly amorphous in nature and have high amount of elemental carbon than arhar stalk biochar (AB). Using epoxy as matrix and biochar materials as reinforcement composites were fabricated with three different filler weight fractions i.e., 2%, 4% and 6%. The composites with 4% Bael shell biochar exhibited high tensile strength, and has 183% more strength when compared with neat epoxy. Increasing the filler percentage from 4% to 6% the strength and hardness of composites reduced due to poor interfacial bonding. Morphological studies were performed on fractured surfaces of tensile tested samples by using scanning electron microscope. From thermogravimetric analysis it was found that with the inclusion of biochar materials thermal stability of composites was significantly enhanced. 4% Bael biochar composites (BBC) exhibited higher thermal resistance which left 8% residual mass.

Porous carbon materials have versatile physical and chemical characteristics; however, these materials are not be fully exploited as reinforcements in polymer composites. The present investigation focuses on extraction of hierarchical porous carbon and its utilization in polymer composite in order to enhance the erosion wear resistance and hardness of polymer composite. The current research work also demonstrates the wear behavior of the hierarchical porous carbon epoxy composite when exposed to different environmental conditions. The attributes of hierarchical carbon have verified through different characterization techniques, further porous carbon with optimum properties has been included as reinforcement in different ratios viz. 1, 2 and 3 wt. % to make the epoxy composites. The composites were studied for their hardness, moisture absorption and erosion wear behavior at variable impingement angles (30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°) and impingement velocities (101, 119, and 148 m/s). Moisture uptake results suggests that the increase in filler percentage increased the moisture absorption, and the highest moisture absorption was reported in composite immersed in saline water environment. It was observed that addition of activated carbon particles has enhanced hardness and wear resistance of the composite. Composite with 2 wt.% particulate reinforcement was found to be the optimum percentage of reinforcement which was subjected to 82.4% less material loss that is, erosion rate at 45° impact angle compared to neat polymer. From the erosion wear results it was further noticed that moisture absorption has deteriorated the erosion wear resistance of composites resulting in high material loss.

Biomass waste processing with a potential to commercialization is always concern for achieving sustainable ecosystem. In the current work, biochar was extracted from the arhar stalks (AS) and bael shells (BS) biowaste which has carbon as major constituent. As a result, biochar in particle form has excellent mechanical and tribological properties and hence when combined with epoxy forms a composite with enhanced tribological properties. In this context, the biochar epoxy composites were prepared with three different compositions of 2, 4, and 6% wt, and characterized for adsorption and solid erosion wear studies. The adsorption studies conferred that BS biochar materials consist large Brunauer-Emmet-Teller surface area, that is, 294.3393 m 2 /g and pore volume of 0.13166 cm 3 /g comparative to AS biochar materials. It was observed from the results that BS based biochar epoxy composites displayed excellent enhancement in erosion wear resistance of about 52% comparative to pure epoxy that of AS at 2%. Alongside further increment in the composition of the biochar constituent to 4% exhibited semi ductile behavior with a peak wear rate at 45 impact angle. Applications pertaining to the realized composites in the current work is expected to meet the aerospace and automotive industries in specific.