Thermal and dynamic performance of kenaf/washingtonia fibre-based hybrid composites

Abstract

The application of hybrid natural fibres incorporated with bio phenolic composites is significant due to their sustainability and low-cost rates. In this paper, two natural fibres composites were prepared using a hand lay-up technique. The thermal stability, dynamic-mechanical, and thermo-mechanical characterisations of kenaf fibre (KF)/Washingtonia Leaf Stalk Fibres (AW)/epoxy biocomposite were investigated in this paper. Thermomechanical analysis (TMA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), respectively, were used to examine the thermal stability and the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and the dynamic mechanical properties of composites, respectively. The Thermogravimetric (TG) analyses showed that the addition of KF and AW enhanced the thermal stability of the epoxy composites. 7AW/3KENAF showed the most significant improvement in thermal stability (Tonset; 284.52 °C and Tmax; 368.25. Furthermore, the hybrid biocomposite exhibited the highest storage modulus (2668.9 MPa) among all other pure and hybrid biocomposites. On the other hand, the TMA findings illustrated that the 50% AW sample exhibited the highest value of CTE (242 μm/m °C) at the maximum temperature (175 °C) among all samples. Briefly, it is obvious that the combination of WA with KENAF enhanced the potential in improving thermal, dimensional and dynamic mechanical characterisations of epoxy composites and can be utilised in building applications that dictate elevated dimensional stability. It was proven that the hybrid biocomposites prepared in this work supported by hybrid natural fibres as strengthened bio fillers might benefit the performance of epoxy composites, which could broaden the application range of industrial and engineering applications and provide novel ways for its effective uses.