Effect of Chemical Treatment on Polyester Matrix Composites Reinforced with Chestnut Waste

In recent years due to same ecologtal and environmental apprehension [n the fabrication of thermoplastic composites natural fibers have been preferred instead af using inorganic fillers. The increasing demand for thermoplastic composites has led to find new resources A wide variety Of fibe' materials are available for the polymer such as corncobs, nutshell, pepper stem, cereal straw and even cellulose wastes One of these materia's is chestnut shell. Turkey has a large quantity of chesnut tree in the East Black Sea subsection, the Marrnara region, and the Antalya coastal area via the West Anatolia subsection. Aim of this study was to produce polymer matrix composites by using treated chestnut waste as filler and polyester as polymer matrix with casting method Cobalt naphthenate as accelerator and methyl ethyl ketone peroxide as hardener were used to produce polyester matrix camposites Chestnut powder was treated with sodium hydroxide and acetic acid solution Polyester amount was kept [n constant and chestnut ratios were changed from 3% to in weight Effect of chemical treatment was investigated by evaluating some rnechamcal properties such as flexural strength, elastic modulus, hardness and some physical features such as density and water absorption According to test results using treated filler has decreased the bending strength values in ratio. It was observed that chemical treatment hag no signiñnnt effect on elastic modulus and hardness values of the composites. While impact strength values have decreased With the increase in chestnut there IS an % decrement when treated chestnut filler was