Mechanical, wear, and low cycle fatigue behaviour of rice husk ash Si₃N₄ and pineapple/basalt Fiber-reinforced polyester composite

The objective of this investigation was to develop lightweight polyester composites for possible application of human prosthetics. Since present materials in human prosthetics are either metals or synthetic harmful fibre and fillers, the present study proposes to introduce a new alternative biocomposite material for manufacturing human prosthetics. Thus, in this study, pineapple-basalt fibre sandwich with rice husk Si3N4 particle polyester composites was developed with two different staking sequences. The composites are prepared using the hand layup technique, and testing was carried out in accordance with American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. The highest measured mechanical values for composite designation PBS1 up to 124 MPa, 162 MPa, 4.68 J, 21 MPa, and 79 shore-D for tensile strength, flexural strength, Izod impact, and hardness, respectively, when compared to all other composite designations. Corresponding to this, maximum fatigue life counts of 14,370 were seen for composite designation PBS1 with 1.0 vol. % Si3N4 particles included. However, the higher wear resistances value up to 0.007 for wear loss and 0.028 for co-efficient of friction (COF) for composite designation PBS2 resulted from the enhanced Si3N4 particle volume percentage up to 3.0 vol. %. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) fractography of the broken samples shows that the silane surface treatment has increased the interaction between the fibre and matrix phase. Thus, based on the present research, it is clear that the novel material structure (B/P/P/B) with pineapple/basalt fibre and Si3N4 is capable of replacing the existing man-made synthetic materials used in human prosthetic production with more advantageous attributes such as light weight, high strength, durable, abrasion resistance, and fatigue damage free.