Evaluation of Mechanical and Water Absorption Behaviors of Jute/Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polyester Hybrid Composites

Abstract

In this work, the influence of hybridizing jute and carbon fibers on the mechanical properties and water absorption behavior of polyester composites was evaluated. The composites were fabricated by using compression molding technique with discrete of overall fiber weight fraction, being pure jute or pure carbon fiber or hybrid. The outcomes of the study revealed that the jute fiber composites have lower mechanical properties and higher water absorption rate when compared with carbon fiber composites. While, the combined effect enhanced the mechanical property (tensile strength of 136.3 MPa, tensile modulus of 3403 MPa, flexural strength of 175.84 MPa, flexural modulus of 9350 MPa and impact strength of 47.43 kJ/m2) and reduced the moisture absorption rate and have good interfacial bonding with polyester which was confirmed in the morphological investigation using scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, the mechanism of fracture in mechanical-tested samples was observed through scanning electron microscopic images. All the composites developed in the work was followed the Fickian behavior of water absorption.

Keywords

• hybrid composites
• jute/carbon
• polyester
• mechanical properties
• water absorption
• morphological analysis