Thermally reduced sugarcane bagasse carbon quantum dots and in-plane flax fiber unsaturated polyester composites: surface conductivity and mechanical properties

This study looked at the mechanical, electrical, and thermal surface conductivity of a polyester composite reinforced with flax fiber and thermally reduced carbon quantum dots. The primary objective of this work was to ascertain how incorporating carbon dots from thermally reduced biomass sugarcane bagasse enhanced the qualities of the polyester composite and resulted in its development as a sustainable material for cutting-edge applications. By pyrolyzing sugarcane bagasse, carbon dots were produced, and then hand layup was used to create the composites. After that, the effects of the addition of carbon dots were evaluated by testing the composite material in accordance with the American Society for Testing of Materials (ASTM) criteria. The findings demonstrated that increasing the amount of carbon dots in a polyester composite by up to 5 vol.% increased its tensile, flexural, and impact strength. However, the properties changed when the carbon dots content was raised to 7 vol.%. The highest hardness of the 7 vol.% carbon dots distributed composite, in contrast, was 82 shore-D, and its specific wear rate was reduced at 0.005 mm³/Nm. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss are both at their maximum values in the 7 vol.% carbon dots dispersed composite, at 4.1 and 0.15, respectively. This polyester composite also exhibits excellent thermal conductivity (0.394 W/mK), demonstrating effective heat transfer bridge development. Thus, these polyester composites with better surface conductivity (electrical, thermal, and hydrophobicity) and mechanical properties could be employed as a functional material for electrical and thermal applications.