Thermal characterization of plat heat exchanger made from polymer biocomposite reinforced by silicon carbide

Abstract

The thermal performance of natural-based composites remains a significant challenge in their industrial applications, especially in plat heat exchanger (PHE). This study aims to address this challenge by developing a bio-composite material using Green-epoxy biodegradable resin reinforced with banana fibre (Bn-GBC) and silicon carbide (SiC) as a filler, with the goal of improving its thermal conductivity and for fabrication PHE polymer biocomposite based. The study explores the effects of adding 2 mass% and 8 mass% SiC to the Bn-GBC, and an intumescent fire retardant (IFR) coating consisting of 29 mass% ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and 1 mass% boric acid was applied to the Bn-GBC/SiC samples. The manufacturing process involved the use of vacuum bag resin transfer moulding (VBRTM) technique. The study conducted Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) tests under an O₂ atmosphere, with processing parameters such as temperature and variation in heating rates set at 303–1173 K and 5, 10, and 15 °C min⁻¹, respectively. The kinetic mechanism in the material was examined by calculating the kinetic parameters. The activation energy (E_a) was evaluated using model-free (the Friedman and KAS approaches) and fitting model of the Expanded Prout-Tompkins (Bna). In conclusion, all samples defined their kinetic parameter, the use of IFR reveals that increases E_a value by approximately 10–14%. TGA and cone calorimeter results indicated that the use of 8 mass% SiC improved the thermal stability of the composite compared to 2 mass% SiC. Moreover, from both thermal tests indicate that the application of a 16 mass% IFR (29Exolit/1BA) coating helped maintain the thermal stability and delay decomposition process. Thus, the PHE prototype was developed with 8 mass% SiC addition and without SiC addition. The Experimental and numerical heat assessment analysis was performed, it is proven that PHE/8SiC has a higher heat transfer compared to PHE/0SiC.