Manufacturing, Mechanical and Morphological Characterization of new Natural Hybrid Biocomposite Materials of Fique – Mulberry

Abstract

Currently, the industry requires the use of new materials that have better technical characteristics and that have a minimal environmental impact. A viable option to meet these requirements are biocomposite materials reinforced with natural fibers. Recent research in this field of composite materials has sought to develop better properties in the materials, giving rise to hybrid composites, which are composed of more than one fiber as reinforcement together with the matrix; however, these studies are mainly focused on synthetic fibers, leaving a large area of research regarding natural fibers. This article describes the manufacture, mechanical, and morphological characterization of new natural hybrid biocomposite materials of fique - mulberry. Five biocomposites were elaborated under the hand lay up manufacturing technique using various layers of fique and mulberry and using polyester resin as a matrix. The mechanical characterization was carried out by means of the tensile and bending test, obtaining the best mechanical properties in the composite with the greatest amount of natural fiber, which presented a tensile stress of 30.27 MPa and a bending stress of 18.97 MPa. The morphological characterization was carried out using scanning electron microscopy, where a medium resin-fiber adhesion and a decomposition of the matrix were observed.