Moisture absorption behavior of hybrid composite laminates consist of natural and glass fiber

Abstract

Natural fibers have advantages over synthetic fiber in economic and environmental benefits. The use of natural fiber is an innovative finding. The use of these fibers can increase the value of these fibers. Soon, natural fibers are expected to replace synthetic fibers in several applications, such as manufacturing sectors and automotive components. However, natural fibers lack information compared with other fiber such as carbon and glass fiber related to their mechanical behavior. This research investigates the effect of stacking sequences on water absorption in natural and hybrid composites consisting of glass fiber under varying layers of natural fibers. The different natural fibers were used, such as jute, agel and bamboo. Several specimens of natural fibers are combined with glass fibers with different arrangements to produce a hybrid composite. Samples were made using the hand lay-up method. Three types of stacking sequence were implemented: NF/GF/GF/GF/NF, GF/GF/NF/GF/GF, and NF/NF/NF/NF (where NF represents natural fiber layers and GF means glass fiber layers). The study evaluated the percentage of moisture absorption in the corresponding property of the specimen after 3, 6, 24, 48 h of water immersion and then compared it with the dry sample. The results showed that the highest water absorption was occurred at the B/B/B/B specimen with 11.12% and then followed by B/GF/GF/GF/B specimen with 9.21%.