Study on the influence of stacking pattern on mechanical behaviour of banana/snake grass fibers hybrid epoxy composite

Abstract

The present work analyses the effect of staking order on the mechanical behaviour of a hybrid polymer composites. The composites were prepared by arranging the banana and snake grass fibers in a definite sequence within the epoxy-based polymer matrix. For achieving a better composite materials’ interaction characteristic, banana as well as snake grass fibers had been cleaned with NaOH alkaline solution. By utilizing a digitalized universal testing machine, the tensile, compressive and flexural characteristics of the hybrid composite samples with the pre-determined stacking orders were assessed. The results revealed that the stacking sequence strongly influenced the mechanical characteristics of the hybrid composites. The banana fibers at the ends and in alternative laminates had resulted in the maximization of mechanical strengths including tensile, compressive and flexural characteristics. Specifically, the augmentation in tension, compressive as well as flexural values had been recorded as 14.25%, 11.76%, and 20.6%, correspondingly for the composite material with banana fibers at the ends.