Low-Velocity Impact and Compression after Impact Properties of Hemp and Jute Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study on the low-velocity impact behavior of hemp and jute fiber-reinforced epoxy composite. The Compressive After Impact (CAI) properties of composites post-impact are used for analysis. The type of damage and area of damage is used to analyze the effectiveness of composites for variation in impact energy. The impacted composite specimens were subjected to Compression After the Impact (CAI) test. A two-factor, five-level Central Composite Design (CCD) model of response surface methodology (RSM) is used to analyze the effect of input variables on ultimate load and thereby obtain the optimized input conditions for damage. The experimental results were optimized using Derringer’s Desirability function. The results indicate that jute laminates show a better impact energy absorption capability than hemp laminate composites. From the study, it was observed that the CAI strength of jute/epoxy composite was high compared to hemp/epoxy composite and the jute/epoxy composite exhibited enhanced CAI properties of the composite. From the regression equations and the three-dimensional response surface plots obtained from CCD, optimized ramp values were obtained. The optimized ultimate load of hemp and jute fiber laminate was 5.90 MPa and 10.68 MPa, respectively.

Keywords

• impact damage
• compressive after impact
• residual compressive strength
• response surface methodology
• central composite design
• natural fiber