Performance of novel engineered materials from nano‐silica incorporated phenol‐formaldehyde‐flax fabric hybrid composite: Thermal, wear, aging and biodegradability analysis

Abstract

With the growing awareness of environmental issues, natural fiber composites have emerged as a viable substitute for conventional polymer composites. The usage of natural fiber reinforced with nano fillers composites has increased significantly in recent years, especially in the building, automotive, and aerospace industries. This research explores the effect of nano‐silica in tribological, thermal behavior, water diffusion properties and biodegradation of flax fabric/phenol‐formaldehyde hybrid composites. We have fabricated the hybrid composites utilizing compression molding technique. The results showed that after reaching the lowest value for 4 nanosilica (NS), the volumetric wear rose when the addition of nano‐silica was increased. However, the volumetric wear decreased as the weight percentage of nano‐silica improved. At lower sliding speeds (1 m/s), the VW value is between 0.06782 and 0.05455 cm3, but at higher sliding speeds (3 m/s), it is roughly 0.09253–0.06187 cm3. The thermal stability was improved for 1 NS, 2 NS, and 3 NS is 1.20%, 1.64%, and 0.71%, respectively. At three different temperatures (30, 60, and 90°C) the impact of nano‐silica on the water diffusion behavior of PF‐flax fabric hybrid composites was examined. 2 NS showed the least amount of water sorption. it was noted that the three coefficients—Diffusion, Sorption, and Permeation‐were all declining when compared to PF‐flax fabric composites devoid of nano‐silica following computing the Arrhenius values, the free energy change was always negative, indicating the spontaneity of sorption in non‐reinforced samples. The tensile strength of every composite in this investigation was marginally changed by the water aging process.