Mechanical characterization of glass and jute fiber-based hybrid composites fabricated through compression molding technique

Abstract

Natural fibers, especially jute fibers, have gained interest in recent decades due to their attractive mechanical properties, high cellulose percentage, low cost, biodegradability, and easy availability. In the present study, flexural and drop weight impact behavior for different weight percentages of glass and jute fiber reinforced epoxy composites are studied experimentally according to ASTM standards. The hybrid composites were prepared through the compression molding technique. Numerical simulations were performed to investigate the predictive flexural response. The leading cause of error between experimental and numerical results is the manufacturing process and the reinforcement’s woven nature. On the other hand, the impact strength was studied through drop weight testing at fixed 10 J energy. It is found that damage area decreases with increasing jute percentage in glass/jute hybrid composites, showing that jute fiber contributes more towards the composites’ impact strength than glass fiber. Therefore, jute fiber can replace glass fiber in the glass/jute hybrid composite as a natural and eco-friendly constituent. The microscopic study reveals that the outer glass fiber layer helps minimize the stress distribution of jute fiber. A significant drawback of compression molding is the epoxy affluent areas in the composite.