Evaluation of Mechanical and Water Absorption Behavior of Natural Fiber-Reinforced Hybrid Biocomposites

Abstract

The virtues of hybrid composites are higher performances and improved mechanical properties as compared to polymer composites. Hence, it have been extensively used in various applications. However, only a few works reported on the performance of natural fiber-reinforced biocomposite. In this study, the experimental work has been carried out to investigate the mechanical properties, such as tensile, flexural and impact, of randomly oriented Calotropis gigantea Fiber (CGFs) & Palmyra fiber (PFs)-reinforced Phenol-Formaldehyde (PF) hybrid biocomposites. The samples have been prepared by varying the fiber percentages and fiber length by using hand layup method. The fabricated specimens were tested as per ASTM standard. The results illustrate that the addition of palmyra fiber with Calotropis gigantea fiber composites improved the mechanical properties of hybrid composite. Hybridization of Calotropis gigantea Fiber (CGFs) & Palmyra fiber (PFs) was effective at higher fiber volume percentage composites. Variation in fiber length shows effective results in mechanical properties. The water absorption of the composites increased with the increase in the fiber volume percentage, all the composites attained equilibrium state after 120 hours. To understand the failure mechanism of composites during mechanical testing, the failed specimens were examined using Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) images. Also, the failure modes and their effects were discussed.

Keywords

• natural fibers
• mechanical properties
• scanning electron microscope
• hybrid biocomposites
• moisture absorption