Mechanical strength performance and development of water hyacinth particle reinforced thermoset polymer composites

The global initiative focused on the development of low-emission materials aims to achieve net-zero emissions. Unlike most plant-based natural fibers, water hyacinth plants are known to reproduce at a highly significant rate. However, research on incorporating water hyacinth and particle-based fillers is limited, particularly in thermoset matrices. In this study, the cellulosic and mineral content of petiole from water hyacinth plants were analyzed. The developed composites were subjected to a series of characterizations and mechanical tests. Petiole contained an average of 30.4% cellulose, 38.7% hemicellulose, and 3.4% lignin. Analysis revealed the presence of both sylvite and whewellite, which are responsible for its bitter taste and have the potential of causing irritation, leading animals to avoid it. It is established that size and loading of the water hyacinth particles played a significant role in mechanical performance. The use of < 212 μm particles resulted in a 10.1% gain in tensile strength and a 38.1% gain in impact strength compared to larger particle sizes. The incorporation of 2.5 wt% of these particles led to a slight improvement in the tensile performance, reaching 51.3 MPa. However, a notable reduction in the impact strength was observed, measuring 13.4 kJ/m². Further increases in content resulted in a decline in mechanical performance, with the exception of microhardness, which ranged between 12.6 and 13.7 HV. Furthermore, it was found that the addition of 10.0 wt% was the threshold to form composites without significant microvoids. These findings will be beneficial for particle-based composites research.