Improved mechanical properties of natural-synthetic hybrid composites

Abstract

In Recent times, agriculture residue resembles sugarcane bagasse attracted the attention of researchers as it is considered as a type of a reinforcement for polymeric composites used in industrial area. This study is an attempt to utilize sugarcane bagasse (natural fiber) reinforcement hybridized with glass fiber (synthetic fiber) one to fabricate new types of hybrid composites. To obtain the optimum mechanical properties, six different layering sequence with different fibers amounts were fabricated via hand lay-up method and then compression molding was applied. The tensile, impact, flexural and hardness behavior were compared. Scanning electron microscopy was used to adapt to analyze the hybrid natural composite specimens’ damage. Results revealed that the tensile, impact, flexural and hardness properties of sugarcane bagasse/polyester composites can be enhanced by its hybridization with glass fiber reinforcement. Different Layering configurations and the relative fiber amounts have noticeable impacts on the mechanical properties. The advantages of the hybridization of reinforcements in this work are the low price besides the light weight with comparable mechanical properties. Consequently, the recommended hybrid composites can be utilized in moderate load applications. Moreover, the suitable selection of the amounts of fibers and stacking sequence produces fabricated hybrid composites attaining property profiles which are close to glass fiber/polyester composites in terms of specific properties.