Effect of alkali and saline treatment on corn cob and ground chestnut shell fiber reinforced bio-composites for mechanical and thermal applications

This study aims to analyze composite materials empirically, utilizing corn cob and ground chestnut shell fiber as reinforcement, with polyvinyl alcohol serving as the matrix. This study aims to analyze the mechanical and thermal insulating properties of composites made from alkali and saline-treated corncob and ground chestnut shell fiber to assess their potential applications in technical fields. This investigation involved the development of 5 bio-composites, each composed of 65% PVA, with differing proportions of corn cob and ground chestnut shell fiber: 100%/0%, 0%/100%, 50%/50%, 30%/70%, and 70%/30%. Compression molding served as the fabrication method. The mechanical characteristics of these composites were evaluated in accordance with ASTM standards. OM and SEM analysis was utilized to examine fiber morphology and binding characteristics. The findings indicate that the tensile strength of composites composed of corn cob and ground chestnut shell fiber is 7.99 MPa. The composites consisting of 70% corncob and 30% ground chestnut shell fibers demonstrate a superior thermal insulation coefficient (1.58448) compared to other configurations. Additionally, in comparison to the other samples, the 30/70 composites exhibited superior impact resistance of 0.89 J/m 2 .