Effect of Visco-Elastic Parameters and Activation Energy of Epoxy Resin Matrix Reinforced with Sugarcane Bagasse Powder (SCBP) Using Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA)

A sugar cane bagasse powder (SCBP) reinforced epoxy resin composite was developed at low cost using the hand lay-up method. The viscoelastic parameters and activation energies of the composites were evaluated using dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) in a temperature range from 30°C to 120°C at 10Hz oscillating frequency. It was observed that 30wt% and 40wt% SCBP/Epoxy composites are the stiffest composite materials because of their higher values of storage modulus of 950MPa and 997MPa in comparison to about 800MPa of the neat epoxy matrix. Our findings also revealed that loss modulus decreases with increase in temperature and incorporation of SCPB fiber content caused broadening of the curves which depicts an increase in thermal stability of composite materials in comparison with neat epoxy matrix. There was a gradual decrease in damping coefficients as the SCBP content increases which could be attributed to the reinforcing effect of the fiber. The decrease in activation energies of 293.013, 286.836 and 201.103KJ/mol for 20wt%, 40wt%, and 50wt%SCBP/Epoxy resin composites proved that the activation energy values are in agreement with the storage modulus which suggests an improved stiffness of the composites