Role of fibre weight fraction on low-velocity impact characteristics of abaca fibre reinforced bio-composites

Abstract

This work involved an experimental study on Abaca fibre bio-composites subjected to a low-velocity impact test at 2.42 m/s to study the effect of fibre weight fraction on the impact performance. The abaca fibre reinforced composite (AFRC) specimens were fabricated with a 10% increment of fibre, varying from Wf = 20% to 50%, and their impact properties compared with each other. The impact properties such as force-time history, energy-time history, Coefficient of Restitution (CoR), Energy Loss Percentage (ELP) and Energy Absorption Ratio (EAR) were studied. A significant change in impact force and energy absorption was found as the fibre content increased in the composite. The findings show a good relationship between fibre weight fractions, composite laminate stiffness, impact load and total absorbed energy. The experimental results of the impact test show that the composite specimen with Wf = 40% has high impact energy absorption capacity with 4. 09 J 92.94 N and 4.09 J, EAR of 39.94%, CoR of 0.77 and ELP of 40.04%. Low fibre weight fraction composite has shown brittle failure, and high fibre weight fraction has shown ductile behaviour. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) based study was used for post-impact damage analysis.