Issue 71

A. Khan et alii, Fracture and Structural Integrity, 71 (2025) 330-340; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.71.24

the epoxy matrix was first prepared. Then hybrid composites were developed by keeping bamboo fiber wt% constant and varying filler content. Tab. 2 shows the details of both unfilled and filled bamboo composites prepared.

Figure 1: (a) Bamboo woven fiber (b) Epoxy with hardener (c) Eggshell powder.

Material

Details

Fiber

Bamboo fabric, Twill weave, 125 gsm Epoxy - Lapox L12 with K6 Hardener

Matrix

Filler

Chicken Eggshell powder, Particle size: 60 μ m Table 1: Materials details.

Figure 2: Compression molding equipment.

Specimen Code Name

Bamboo fiber wt %

Epoxy wt %

Eggshell powder (ESP) wt %

B1

35 35 35 35

65 63 61 59

0 2 4 6

B/E2 B/E4 B/E6

Table 2: Composite configuration. A mild steel mold of size 300 mm x 300 mm and 6mm thick was used for composite plate fabrication. The required number of bamboo mats were cut to the mold size as per the requirement (Fig. 3 a). Initially required quantity of eggshell powder (ESP) was mixed with epoxy resin using a mechanical stirrer. Hardener was added to this mixture in a 10:1 ratio. Then, this

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