Investigation of Mechanical Properties of Groundnut-Based Composite Using the Entropy-Weighted TOPSIS Approach

This article presents an experimental study related to groundnut shell fiber-reinforced polymer composite. The powdered groundnut shell (GNS) at different concentrations (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 wt%) was utilized as reinforcement with epoxy to prepare the composite. The fabricated NaOH-treated GNS fiber/epoxy polymer composite samples underwent testing in accordance with ASTM standards to evaluate mechanical properties such as impact energy, tensile, and flexural. Maximum tensile strength (15.7 N/mm2) and impact energy (28.86 J/mm2) were achieved on 15 wt% GNS/epoxy composites, while maximum flexural strength (40.18 N/mm2) was achieved on 30 wt% GNS/epoxy composite. Morphological analysis of the fabricated NaOH-treated GNS fiber/epoxy polymer composites was studied by applying SEM. The TOPSIS technique integrated with entropy weight was implemented to obtain the optimal weight proportion of GNS reinforcement in a polymer matrix to maximize tensile, flexural, and impact strength simultaneously. The entropy weight technique was employed to obtain weights for response variables. The TOPSIS method suggests 30 wt% of GNS reinforcement as optimal for maximizing desired mechanical properties. The results for optimal level reinforcement obtained through confirmatory experiments were compared to evaluate the effectiveness of the TOPSIS method.