The application of biomass-derived composite material is in high demand worldwide in various commercial sectors, including automotive, due to its durable, cost-effective, and environment-friendly characteristics. However, one of the limiting factors of biomass-based composites is its higher water absorption capacity compared to commercial synthetic composites. Therefore, this study aimed to optimize the water absorption capacity of biomass-based, wheat straw fiber-basalt hybrid composite brake pad using the Taguchi method by considering the particle size and volume % of the composite compositions. The composite synthesized in this study carried two variations of particle sizes of basalt, wheat straw, steel, river sand, and graphite, as well as two-volume percentages of epoxy resin for optimization. All composites were molded using a compression molding process at compressive pressure of 6 MPa for 2 h curing in a forced convection oven at 100 °C. Water absorption capacity has been determined according to ASTM D570. The wheat straw fiber has been chemically treated with 5 wt.% of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to remove the impurities, lignin, and hemicellulose and increase the surface area of the fiber, resulting in a larger area of contact between the fiber and the matrix. Elemental analysis, crystallinity, morphology, and mechanical strength of wheat straw fiber-based composites have been determined by XRD, SEM, and compression tests, respectively. The statistical method, analysis of variance (ANOVA), was implemented for Taguchi optimization of the composite compositions. The maximum compressive strength and minimum and maximum water absorption capacity of composites were obtained as 77 MPa, 3.55%, and 26.86%, respectively. From the optimum setting of the confirmation experiment, the optimal water absorption value of 5.718% has been obtained. The optimum particle size of the composite compositions was 1 mm basalt particle, 0.5 mm wheat straw fiber, 1 mm steel particle, 1 mm river sand, 0.5 mm graphite dust particle, and 30 vol% epoxy resin by Taguchi method. The parameter impact of Taguchi ranking on water absorption capacity presented the maximum improvement of water absorption, 10.47%, with river sand particle size.

The present research work describes the development and characterization of a new set of natural fiber-based polymer composites consisting hybrid of false banana(Ensete) and sisal fibers as reinforcement and low-density polyethylene (LD-PE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLD-PE) as polymer matrix and kaolin clay as filler using injection molding technique. This work aims to minimize the cost of raw materials needed for the plastic composite product fabrication process and optimized the composite manufacturing techniques on the injection molding process. In the present work, the effect of hybridization on mechanical properties of Ensete and sisal reinforced polyethylene (ESRF-PE) composite has been evaluated experimentally concerning their mechanical characteristics. The hybrid composites which contains 15% sisal and Ensete fiber with 75% LLD-PE matrixes (Composition, C₃ at T₂) have more tensile, flexural and compression strength than other composites can withstand the tensile strength of 66 MPa and flexural strength of 11.94 MPa and compression strength of 56.5 MPa followed by 20% sisal and Ensete fiber with 70% of the same matrices (composition C₂ of T₁ and T₂₎ which holds 65 and 9.95 MPa respectively, which is 56.58%, 163.90%, and 69.43% higher than that of the non-reinforced PE respectively. It has been observed that the tensile strength of LD-PE-ESRF composite materials have an increase of about 9.92%, 39.60% and 25.62% concerning 15/75 (C₁), 20/70 (C₂), and 25/65 (C₃) composition of fiber to matrix ratio. The water absorption in hybrid composites has been negligible. Because in 24 h, maximum and minimum water uptake has gain 0.1 and 0.6% respectively. To conclude, the highest rate of water uptake of natural fiber composites was 16.31%, which was obtained at 225 °C processing temperature and 25% fiber loading in 240 h. The results demonstrate that hybridization plays an important role in improving the mechanical properties of composites. Experiments are carried by keeping the volume ratio of Ensete and sisal (E:S) 2:3, 3:2 and 1:1, while the Shakiso kaolin was kept constant at 10%. The processing temperatures for injection molding(T₁, T₂, and T₃) were 180, 200, 250 and 220, 250, 285 ºC for LD-PE and LLD-PE respectively (the machine has five heating zone/areas), the last corresponding to the injection nozzle. The pressure, injection speed and screw position for LD-PE/LLD-PE were given as − 50/76 kg/cm², 48/50% and 55.5/62 mm, respectively. The water absorption result, tensile, compression and flexural properties of these composites are markedly improved as compare to un-hybrid composites. Finally, the surface microstructure test has been done using an optical microscope to study a qualitative evaluation of the interfacial properties of Ensete and sisal reinforced fibers with polyethylene composite.

This study aims to evaluate how age, harvesting seasons, and culm height affect the properties of various bamboo species. The properties of bamboo fibres for composite development in Ethiopia have not been investigated so far. In this study, the properties of Y. alpina and B. oldhamii were scientifically investigated for bamboo culm structural applications and bamboo fibre composite development based on age and the harvesting season. Y. alpina was collected at Injibara and Mekaneselam which are located in east Gojjam and south wollo, whereas B. oldhamii was collected at Kombolcha which is located in south Wollo, Ethiopia. Three representatives of bamboo plants were collected in the three regions, namely from three age groups, across two harvesting months. The highest and lowest moisture content and shrinkage were measured at the ages of one year and three years, respectively, whereas basic densities were measured at the ages of three years and one year. The harvest month of November yields higher moisture content and shrinkage but lower basic densities compared to February. Yushania alpina has a higher moisture content and shrinkage but lower basic densities compared to Bamusa oldhamii. The current research demonstrates that the three-year-old groups and the harvesting month of February produce yields more suited for construction and structural purposes due to the ensuing good dimensional stability after drying. From the highest to the lowest percentage of the degree of crystallinity of the yield, it is that derived from Inj., followed by Meka., and then Kombolcha, respectively. Bamboo fibres have high powder crystals and degradation temperatures which make them suitable for composite development at two year old. Yushania alpina has a higher degree of crystallinity and degradation temperature of cellulose compared to Bambusa oldhamii.

The purpose of this study was to measure the strength of various bamboo fibres and their epoxy composites based on the bamboo ages and harvesting seasons. Three representative samples of 1–3-year-old bamboo plants were collected in November and February. Bamboo fibres and their epoxy composites had the highest tensile strength and Young’s modulus at 2 years old and in November. The back-calculated tensile strengths using the “rule of mixture” of Injibara, Kombolcha, and Mekaneselam bamboo-fibre-reinforced epoxy composites were 548 ± 40–422 ± 33 MPa, 496 ± 16–339 ± 30 MPa, and 541 ± 21–399 ± 55 MPa, whereas the back-calculated Young’s moduli using the “rule of mixture” were 48 ± 5–37 ± 3 GPa, 36 ± 4–25 ± 3 GPa, and 44 ± 2–40 ± 2 GPa, respectively. The tensile strengths of the Injibara, Kombolcha, and Mekaneselam bamboo-fibre-reinforced epoxy composites were 227 ± 14–171 ± 22 MPa, 255 ± 18–129 ± 15 MPa, and 206 ± 19–151 ± 11 MPa, whereas Young’s moduli were 21 ± 2.9–16 ± 4.24 GPa, 18 ± 0.8–11 ± 0.51 GPa, and 18 ± 0.85–16 ± 0.82 GPa respectively. The highest to the lowest tensile strengths and Young’s moduli of bamboo fibres and their epoxy composites were Injibara, Mekaneselam, and Kombolcha, which were the local regional area names from these fibres were extracted. The intended functional application of the current research study is the automobile industries of headliners, which substitute the conventional materials of glass fibres.

Ethiopia has a large coverage of bamboo plants that are used for furniture making and house building. So far, researchers have not studied the strength of Ethiopian bamboo fibers, which are utilized for composite applications. The current study measured the strength of bamboo fibers based on various testing lengths and calculated the predictive tensile strength using a modified Weibull distribution. Moreover, the quality of the extraction machine is evaluated based on shape and sensitivity parameters. This research paper incorporates the coefficient of variation of the fiber diameters, considering the defects distribution through the length for measuring the predictive strength of the fibers. The fiber diameters were calculated using the area weight methods, which had its density measured using a Pycnometer. It has been examined that as the testing gauge length and coefficient variation of fiber diameter simultaneously increased, the tensile strength of the bamboo fibers decreased. The shape parameter, sensitivity parameter, and characteristic strength of Injibara bamboo (Y. alpina) are 6.02–7.83, 0.63, and 459–642 MPa, whereas Kombolcha bamboo (B. oldhamii) are 5.87–10.21, 0.33, and 408–638 MPa, as well as Mekaneselam bamboo (Y. alpina) are 5.86–9.63, 0.33 and 488–597 MPa, respectively.

In recent years, industrial byproducts have been converted into useful and valuable commercial items. Reusing these byproducts plays a crucial role to ensure the circular economy and thereby safeguard the environmental impacts. In Ethiopia, the Aluminate Sulphate chemical factory disposes of filter-cake waste materials in landfills that have high silica content. The factory is using pure kaolin and other raw materials for the production of Aluminum Sulphate and Sulphuric Acid by burning at high temperatures. By-products materials were collected from the factory and then calcined (post-treated) at 600 °C for 2h in a muffle furnace. From Atomic Absorption Spectrometry measurement result, it is confirmed that the post-treated (at 600 °C/2h) silica-enriched filter-cake waste materials have a similar composition to Metakaolin (MK). Post-treated filter cake (named MK) became more amorphous having high reactive silica with very low impurities as it was calcined and quenched rapidly. In this study, the properties of blended Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC)-mortar samples were investigated with the addition of heat-treated filter cake waste materials (0%–20%) as a partial OPC replacement. X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy, Differential Thermal Analysis, Scanning Electron Microscope, and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry were used to investigate the properties of mortar samples that contain post-treated filter-cake (MK) materials and OPC-cement. The flexural and compressive strengths of 10% MK + 90% OPC-mortar samples were enhanced at early curing ages, 7 & 28 days. Moreover, the flexural and compressive strengths of OPC mortars with 15% MK have been improved at 28 days of curing age. However, 20% MK + 80% OPC blended mortars have not shown any improvement in mechanical properties. Setting time, soundness, water absorption, and apparent porosity of cement pastes with the addition of post-treated filter cake (MK) are also analyzed.