Experimental investigation of physical and mechanical behaviour of broom grass root and glass fiber reiforced hybrid composites

Abstract

The present work consists the use of plant fiber in the development of broom grass root and glass fiber reinforced polyester hybrid composites. The natural fiber is extracted from broom grass plant roots. Hand layup technique was used for fabrication of hybrid composite specimens. The composite test specimens were fabricated according to the ASTM standards. Total nine test samples are prepared with different combinations of fiber reinforcements. The influence of fiber content on the physical and mechanical performance such as density, water absorption, tensile strength, tensile modulus, impact energy, and hardness of the hybrid composites was evaluated. The experimental results were analyzed and it shows that the fiber composition 15% Broom Grass Root and 5 wt% of glass fiber compared with other fiber compositions shows higher tensile strength, tensile stress and tensile modulus. However, for 15% of Broom Grass Root and 5 wt% of glass fiber composite specimen shows maximum tensile strength, tensile modulus and hardness. The physical properties such as density, void content and water absorption percentage of hybrid composites increases with the fiber content.