Investigations on Dielectric Constant of Coir Powder-Reinforced PVC Composites

Abstract

In recent times, there is an intensive growth toward investigation and creation of the green fiber composites due to its abundance and cost-effective, renewable, and environmentally-safe features. Natural fiber-based composites are rapidly replacing synthetic fiber-based composites in electrical engineering applications but being limited due to poor electrical insulation properties. Hence, an attempt is made in this study to improve the electrical insulation properties of coir fiber (powder form)/polyvinylchloride composite by optimizing the variables viz. fiber content (wt.%), particle size (in μm), and chemical treatments using Box–Behnken design. Thus, the results are optimized using the analysis of variance to achieve the low dielectric constant (2.256) for the combination of chemical treatments (triethoxy(ethyl)silane), fiber content (2 wt.%), and particle size (179.5 μm), which are suitable for the electrical insulation products. Additionally, a conformity test is executed and error was found to be 2.54%.