Physio-Mechanical Characterization of Jute/Kevlar Hybrid Composites Coupled with MADM Approach for Selection of Composites

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study aims at exploring the possible usage of natural and synthetic fiber-reinforced hybrid composites for structural applications. Jute and Kevlar-reinforced hybrid composites with different stacking sequences, namely, jute-kevlar-jute (JKJ) and kevlar-jute-kevlar (KJK) were fabricated using the vacuum bagging method and compared with the jute-jute-jute (JJJ) and kevlar-kevlar-kevlar (KKK) composites. The physical and mechanical properties of the proposed composites namely; density, void content, water absorption, tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact strength were determined experimentally. The physical characterization revealed that there is no appreciable variation in the density of all the four proposed composites. Hybridization results in better resistance to water absorption compared to complete natural fiber-reinforced composite. Mechanical characterization reveals that JKJ composite can be a potential replacement for KKK composite in structural applications requiring good tensile and flexural strength. However, impact study reveals that KKK composites exhibit better impact strength compared to their counterparts. However, hybridization of composites results in enhanced impact strength compared to complete natural fiber-reinforced composite. Finally, a multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) approach is adopted to select the best among the proposed composites considering all the physical and mechanical properties.