PREPERATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF EPOXY RESIN AND WOOL FIBRE COMPOSITE

Abstract

The idea of employing natural components from animal products (wool) to reinforce the epoxy resin was investigated in this study. The hand lay-up method was used to prepare composite material specimens. These specimens were represented by composite materials consisting of epoxy resin as a material matrix reinforced with wool in various volume fractions (0 %, 2.5 %, 5%, 7.5 %, 10%, 12.5%, 15%). Mechanical (bending) and physical (thermal conductivity) testing were performed. All of the tests were carried out at the lab's temperature. The findings of the specimen testing revealed an improvement in mechanical characteristics (bending) when reinforcing fibers were added, while physical tests revealed a modest rise in Conductivity values. Thermal visual examination of the samples was performed and we noticed that there is a good distribution of fibers in the prepared samples.