Investigation on Mechanical Properties of Hybrid Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composite

Abstract

The use of natural fibers in composite is increasing day by due to eco-friendly nature of the fibres and reuse of waste. Natural fibers can be classified according to their source of origin such as plant fiber, mineral fiber, and animal fiber. In the present article, epoxy was taken as the matrix and wool fiber for reinforcement with flax flax fiber for fabricating the composite using the hand layup technique. The impact of the hybridization of flax and wool fibers on the mechanical properties of natural fiber reinforced polymer composite was investigated. These fibers were blended in varying percentages with fixed fiber content of 5% [(100% flax fiber), (40% wool/60% flax fiber), (50% flax/50% wool fiber), (60% wool fiber/40% flax), (100% wool fiber)] with epoxy resin and sampled as F5, WF23, WF2.5, WF32, and W5 respectively. Tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact strength were investigated through experimentation. All hybrid composites outperformed non-hybrid wool fiber composites in terms of mechanical properties. The wool fiber is poor in mechanical strength which was compensated by high strength of flax fiber.