The current study aims to examine the influence of surface‐modified micro‐sized walnut shell particulates (WSP) with an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) on epoxy composites. For that, epoxy/WSP composites are prepared by varying the WSP content up to 20 wt%. In this investigation, the physical properties (surface morphology, density, voids percentage, water uptake), mechanical properties (tensile, flexural, compressive, hardness), and sliding wear behavior of the composites are reported. From the micrographs, it is clear that WSP established good adhesion with the epoxy matrix. Further, it is found that the density, void content, water intake capacity, compressive strength, and hardness increase with WSP loading. Against that, the tensile and flexural strength is somewhat reduced at higher filler loading. Sliding wear tests are performed as per L25 Taguchi's orthogonal array. From the analysis, it is observed that WSP content is the most significant factor and sliding distance is the least significant factor for minimizing the wear rate. For analyzing the sliding wear performance under varied conditions, a prediction model is proposed using an artificial neural network to forecast the sliding wear rate of epoxy/WSP composites over a wide range of experimental domains.

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In the present work, a new class of polymer composite is developed using walnut shell powder (WSP) as particulate filler in the epoxy matrix. Three different sizes of WSP are used for preparing three different sets of composites. The particle size selected is 50-micron, 75-micron, and 100-micron. In each set of composites with different particle size, four compositions i.e., 5 wt. %, 10 wt. %, 15 wt. % and 20 wt. % of the WSP is fabricated. All prepared composites have undergone testing to study the behavior of the material under mechanical loading. The different mechanical tests performed are the tensile test, flexural test, compressive test and hardness test. From the experimentation, the inclusion of WSP appreciably alters the different mechanical properties of epoxy. With the increase in the content of filler, an appreciable increase in the value of hardness and compressive strength is observed. Though, it has been seen that the tensile strength and flexural strength of the material is compromised slightly when the content of WSP increases beyond a certain limit. Further, it is observed that composites fabricated with smaller size particles give improved mechanical properties as compared to their counterparts.