Hybridization effect of fibers on mechanical properties of PA66/PP blend-based thermoplastic composites

Abstract

The effect of hybrid fibers on mechanical behavior of thermoplastic composites is most important for structural applications. This article deals with the effect of hybrid short fibers i.e., short glass fiber (SGF), short carbon fiber (SCF), and short basalt fibers (SBF) on 80/20 wt% of polyamide 66/polypropylene (PA66/PP) blend. The glass-carbon hybrid composites (CG) and glass-basalt hybrid composites (BG) were prepared by using melt mix twin screw extruder. The mechanical properties such as tensile, flexure, and impact strength of hybrid composites were studied as per ASTM methods. Further, hardness and density of hybrid composites were also discussed. The experimental results revealed that hybrid fibers effect greatly enhanced mechanical behavior of PA66/PP blend. The CG composites exhibited improvement in tensile strength by 76.7%, flexural strength by 104.12 and 20.82% reduction in elongation whereas BG composites by 77.22, 109, and 12.92% reduction in elongation, respectively. Significant enhancement in strength of composites was observed due to hybrid fibers effect. The synergistic effect between hybrid fibers and matrix helped in improving mechanical behavior. The impact strength of hybrid composites was reduced due to brittle nature of fibers. Fiber fracture, fiber pull out and fiber misalignment are some of the mechanisms observed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) photographs.