Harnessing of waste cenosphere in development of natural/synthetic and rubber core sandwich composite and its mechanical characterization.

The industrial waste known as cenosphere is rich in ceramic and is created when coal is burned in thermal power plants. The purpose of this study is to examine how cenosphere, a particulate filler, affects the mechanical behavior of woven Sisal/CFRP-Rubber-Sisal/CFRP sandwich composite. Composite specimens are made using the traditional hand lay-up method. The hybrid composite also included cenosphere with varied proportions (5, 10, 15, and 20 wt%). To determine the impact of filler content, the samples underwent tensile, flexural and impact testing following ASTM standards. It is shown that adding discarded cenosphere equivalent to about 15% by weight significantly changes the mechanical properties and enhances the tensile, flexural, inter-laminar shear strength (ILSS), and impact strength as opposed to unfilled sandwich composites. Morphologies of the composites examined show excellent cenosphere dispersion in the matrix, which enhances the strengths noticeably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]