Study on mechanical properties of natural fiber (Jute)/synthetic fiber (Glass) reinforced polymer hybrid composite by representative volume element using finite element analysis: A numerical approach and validated by experiment

Abstract

The excellent mechanical strength with low weight of polymer-based composites makes them superior over conventional materials like steel and aluminum in terms of mechanical properties. Nowadays, researchers are working to develop natural fiber-based sustainable composite. Glass fiber, when combined with jute fiber, could greatly enhance the mechanical characteristics of composites; the sequence of the layers mostly determines these properties. In this study, the hybrid laminate of jute and glass fiber with resin polyester is developed with The representative volume element utilized in ANSYS. In ANSYS material design module, the 3D microstructure of composite material is created with various fiber volume fractions of glass fiber and jute fiber. After that, the effective elastic properties of hybrid jute/glass fiber and polyester as matrix, glass fiber/polyester, and jute fiber/polyester are evaluated and the simulation-based effective elastic property is validated by existing experiment value which showed good agreement. For further study, in Ansys ACP PrepPost, the composite laminate such as hybrid jute + glass fiber/polyester, glass fiber/polyester, and jute fiber/polyester is created with desired lamina thickness, stacking sequence, and fiber orientation. Thereafter, it was transferred to a static structure module to perform tensile and bending test analysis. Ansys ACP post-processing is utilized to investigate stress induced at each lamina of the composite specimen. This study revealed that by adding glass fiber to natural fiber, the mechanical performance is enhanced significantly, whereas hybrid jute + glass fiber/polyester (S2) demonstrated the highest tensile strength 259 MPa compared to other hybrid laminate composites. Astonishingly, The hybrid composite jute + glass/polyester (S2) exhibited 10 % higher bending strength than glass fiber/polyester (S1) and 64 % more than net jute fiber/polyester (S5). Additionally, S2 demonstrated 9.5 % higher shear strength compared to S1 and 64 % more than S5. This study will give a great understanding of how adding glass fiber to jute fiber, could enhance the mechanical properties, which will contribute to the design of an efficient composite part for automotive such as car interiors, car doors, trim panels, lightweight applications, and packaging industries.