Mechanical Properties of Natural Carbon Black Reinforced Polymer Composites

This article describes the development of new carbon black material from agricultural waste (wood apple shells) by using pyrolysis method at various carbonization temperatures (400, 600, and 800 degrees C) and used as reinforcement in polymer composites. The wood apple shell carbon black (WAS-CB) particulates are characterized by proximate analysis, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Results showed that due to increases in carbonization temperature the percentage of carbon improved in the carbon black particles. Furthermore, various tests were performed to determine the effect of new carbon black material on the mechanical properties of composite at different filler loading. The results indicated that mechanical properties like tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength, and flexural modulus are improved as the increase in the carbonization temperature and filler loading. The filler-matrix bonding was analyzed by SEM. (C) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.