Investigations on Dynamic Mechanical Analysis and Crystalline Effect of Neem/Banyan Fiber–Reinforced Hybrid Polymer Composite

Abstract

Abstract Natural fiber is often considered to be deficient for high-performance reinforcement of polymer matrix composites. However, the environmental aspects of natural fiber are attractive to many researchers in the area of natural composites because of the specific strength and eco-friendly properties of natural fibers. In this research, alkali-treated natural fibers are chopped neem fibers, and bidirectional woven mat was used as reinforcement and blended with epoxy matrix. Also, sawdust cellulose was used as a filler material to fabricate composite laminates by the conservative hand layup method. The composite laminates are varied by different weight fractions of reinforcement (25 %), epoxy matrix (70 %), and filler (5 %). Then, to quantify the effect of storage modulus, loss modulus and the damping factor of the hybrid composites are taken by conducting dynamic mechanical analysis. Maximum storage modulus is 1,343 MPa. The results show that increasing the bidirectional woven fiber loading will give 61 % more stiffness in the elastomeric region when compared to chopped neem fiber loading in the hybrid composites, and analyses of the crystallinity effects by x-ray diffraction also identify the adhesion quality between the fibers, fillers, and matrix by using the surface morphology test scanning electron microscopy of the hybrid composites.