Christy Grace Manuvel Antony

The transient heat-transfer behavior of hybrid natural-fiber-reinforced epoxy composites containing 0–5 wt% conch shell filler and 20–35 wt% combined banana–bagasse fiber reinforcement was evaluated using active infrared thermography. A standardized protocol comprising 30 s of convective heating with 100 °C hot air followed by 60 s of natural cooling was applied to seven composite configurations tested in triplicate. The transient response was analyzed in three phases: active heating (0–30 s), thermal lag (30–57 s), and natural cooling (57–90 s). Maximum temperature ($T_{max}$), heating rate ($R_h$), cooling rate ($R_c$), and a thermal retention ratio ($TR$) were extracted and statistically validated by one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni correction. For specimens exhibiting zero within-group variance at the camera display resolution, significance was confirmed using exact permutation tests. Filler incorporation (3–5 wt%) was the dominant factor governing peak-temperature reduction; F5B15S10 (5 wt% filler, 25 wt% total fiber) achieved the lowest $T_{max}$ (33.80 °C, 4.57 °C below neat epoxy). Cooling efficiency was primarily governed by fiber content; F3B15S20 (3 wt% filler, 35 wt% total fiber) demonstrated the most efficient heat dissipation ($TR=0.721$). These findings demonstrate that heating resistance and cooling efficiency are governed by partially independent mechanisms, enabling tailored material design. This study indicates that the proposed transient thermographic protocol provides a valuable reference to thermal management design of hybrid biocomposites in automotive interior and building envelope applications.