Composite Produced from Continuous Bamboo Fibre with Carbonized Bone Particles in An Epoxy Matrix: Evaluation of Physical Properties

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential use of bamboo fibre and
carbonized bone particles in an epoxy matrix for the production of a
new composite material to be used in small scale horizontal axis wind
turbine blade production. Water absorption and thickness swelling
tests were carried out to assess the physical property of the
composite. The optimum values for composites produced using
continuous bamboo fibre – carbonized bone – epoxy composition of
40%, 10% and 50% respectively gave values for water absorption
and thickness swelling as 6.55% and 0.09% respectively. The results
of analyses of variance (ANOVA) carried out revealed all the model
terms were significant indicating that changes in the levels of
bamboo, epoxy and bone powder will have a significant influence on
the water absorption and thickness swelling of the composite for the
wind turbine blades produced from the continuous bamboo fibres.