ABSTRACT
Coconut shell powder (CSP) is a natural bio-filler collected from agricultural waste in solid form, which is likely to lessen the application of synthetic fiber. Coconut shell is also a cheaper and low-density material that can be applied to condense the overall fabrication cost. Currently, the CSP bio-filler has been used in polymeric composites. Sandwich composite panels with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP), each of one layer on the top and bottom skin, and polymer matrix modified with 0 wt%, 20 wt%, 30 wt%, and 40 wt% of CSP fillers as a core, are manufactured using a co-curing technique. This increases skin-core debonding significantly. The tensile and flexural properties of GFRP and CFRP composites viz. ultimate strength, elastic modulus, failure strain, and toughness are found to decrease with augmented content of filler from 0 to 40 wt%. This is due to the agglomeration of CSP particles within the matrix. However, the maximum force, displacement, and perforation energy of composites do not seem to be influenced by the addition of CSP filler from 20 to 40 wt% and are higher than the baseline composite under low-velocity single-impact perforation load. The CFRP composites exhibit higher properties than GFRP composites.
