Studies on Mechanical and Flexural Strength of Carbon Nano Tube Reinforced with Hemp/Vinyl Ester/Carbon Fiber Laminated Hybrid Composite

Abstract

Abstract: In Recent days, the natural fibres from renewable natural resources offer the potential to act as a reinforcing material for polymer composites alternative to the use of glass, carbon and other man-made fibres. Among various fibres, Hemp is most widely used natural fibre due to its advantages like easy availability, low density, low production cost and satisfactory mechanical properties. Composite materials play a vital role in the field of materials to meet the stringent demands of light weight, high strength, corrosion resistance and near-net shapes. Composite is a structural material that consists of two or more combined constituents that are combined at a macroscopic level and are not soluble in each other. Composites are having two phases that are reinforcing phase like fiber, particle, or flakes & matrix phase like polymers, metals, and ceramics. In this project an attempt is made to prepare different combination of composite materials using hemp/carbon fiber and Carbon nano tube reinforcement and vinyl ester as the matrix material respectively. Composites were prepared according to ASTM standards and following test are carried out Tensile, Flexural and ILSS test. The effect of addition of Carbon nano tubes in hemp/vinyl ester/carbon fibers has been studied & it has been observed that there is a significant effect of fibre loading and performance of hemp/carbon fiber reinforced vinyl ester based hybrid composites with improved results Keywords: Hemp fiber, Vinyl ester, Carbon fiber, Tensile, Flexural and ILSS Test