Physical and Mechanical Properties of Randomly Oriented Natural Fiber Hybrid Composites for Exterior Applications

Abstract

Researchers are envisaging in the replacement of the metal and its alloys with natural materials for its superior availability and inferior cost. Although the natural fibers are available in abundant, the issue is their strength and thermal property which are considerably lower than conventional materials. This inferior property lieu put aside of using it for many applications. In order to overcome that the natural materials are hybridized to obtain the combined properties of individual materials. In the current work, natural fibers like hemp, banana and bamboo fibers were reinforced in epoxy resin and their mechanical and water absorption properties were evaluated. Main application considered now are in external casing for many devices like motors, generators and so on wherein the material should capable to work with the moisture along with mechanical strength. The material is developed specifically for this external application with relevant test like absorption of moisture and mechanical tests. It could be noted from the results that a tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength and inter-laminar shear strength of 35.51 MPa, 96.99 MPa, 4.86 J and 3.6 MPa respectively has been obtained for sample with 30 % hemp fibers. Alongside, minimum voids and water absorption were obtained for the same composite configuration. These test reveals that these variants could effectively replaces the external metal casing in harsh environment