Research Projects

Solid waste generation has surged considerably, driven by urbanization, economic growth, and rising living standards. According to (Voukkali et al.,2023), global solid waste production is projected to rise by 70% by 2050, reaching an estimated 3.40 billion tonnes per year. Recent studies estimate that around 1 billion tons of agricultural waste are produced worldwide each year (Peng et al., 2023). Carvalho et al., 2015 identified sugarcane bagasse (SCB) as a significant source of agricultural residues, widely cultivated not only in India but also across equatorial regions like Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia, as well as tropical areas such as Brazil. Globally, Brazil is the top producer of sugarcane with an annual output of approximately 814.9 million tonnes, followed by India at 376.1 million tonnes and China at 138.3 million tonnes. Furthermore, global industrial waste generation is estimated at 9.2 billion tons annually (Vignesh et al., 2021), with end-of-life tires (ELT) accounting for about 1.5 billion tons of this total (Moasas et al., 2022). Improper disposal of waste severely impacts urban environments and poses major threats to human health. To address these escalating issues, numerous studies have emphasized the potential of using ELT and SCB in a range of applications. ELT has been utilized in the production of activated carbon, construction materials, fuels, and cement kilns. Moreover, SCB is extensively employed in water and air purification, thermal and electrical insulation, energy storage systems, cement composites, and catalytic processes. Concurrently, innumerable solutions have been developed in the past years to reduce the vibration as well as the noise of vibrating structures (Barron et al., 2002). Vibrations present a major challenge across a wide range of structures, from buildings to electronic devices. Vibration-induced structure-borne noise can be controlled using various approaches, including active, semi-active, passive, and hybrid methods. According to (Lu et al., 2018), passive control techniques have been widely adopted since the 1960s due to their remarkable stability, simplicity, and cost-efficiency. This method typically employs viscoelastic damping materials (VDMs) to enhance structural vibration damping. According to (Zhou et al.,2016), VDMs typically utilize their intrinsic elastic and viscous characteristics to absorb mechanical energy from vibrating systems, transforming it into heat. This made them widely used in the automotive, aviation, electrical appliances, sports products, and engineering structures. Building on these developments, the present work aims to utilize ELT and SCB to develop vibration isolation composites for vibrational, acoustical, and multifunctional applications. Relevant techniques will thoroughly characterize the developed composite. The developed composites can be used in multiple applications such as automotive, building acoustics, etc.