Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Experimental investigation on the mechanical properties of woven

hybrid fiber reinforced epoxy composite
Santhanam V. a,⇑, Dhanaraj R. a, Chandrasekaran M. b, Venkateshwaran N. a, Baskar S. b
a
Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai 602105, India
b
Vels Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies, Chennai 600117, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: For the past few decades, the demands for the natural fiber reinforced polymer composites were growing
Received 30 June 2020 due to the advantages such as low cost, better strength to density ratio, availability and bio degradability
Accepted 18 July 2020 etc. But due to their inherent nature they tend to absorb moisture, which results in weakening of the
Available online xxxx
composite. In this work the hybrid fiber reinforced composite was developed by incorporating woven
banana fiber and glass fiber in the Epoxy matrix. The effects of hybridization, stacking sequence and sur-
Keywords: face treatment of the banana fiber on the mechanical properties of the composite were investigated.
Woven fiber composite
Composite specimens were prepared by hand layup method followed by light compression. The speci-
Hybrid fiber composite
Banana fiber composites
mens were evaluated for the mechanical properties as per ASTM standards, it was found that the stacking
Mechanical properties sequence had negligible effect on the tensile properties whereas the flexural and impact strength were
Epoxy composite largely affected by the stacking arrangement of the woven glass fiber and banana fiber. Similarly, the
effect of chemical treatment on the mechanical properties of the composites were also evaluated. SEM
images were taken to assess the surface morphology of the composite sample.
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Newer Trends and Innovation in Mechanical Engineering: Materials Science.

1. Introduction with synthetic fibers and also fiber surface treatment [7–9] had
been suggested to improve the surface adhesion and reduce the
Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite materials had been drawbacks of natural fibers.
used in several applications for the past several decades due to Mostafa [10] had conducted fatigue and tensile experiments to
their advantages such as better strength, low weight, corrosion determine the effect of hybridization of glass–epoxy composite
resistant, ease of manufacturability, low cost and also, they can using Jute fiber. It was reported that the hybridization resulted in
be easily tailor made based on the requirement of the application. marginal reduction in the tensile strength, whereas the usage of
Synthetic fibers such as Kevlar, carbon fiber, and Glass fiber were the natural fiber increased significantly. It was also suggested that
primarily used in most of the application. But, due to the environ- the fatigue life of the hybridized composites was comparable to
mental concerns and governmental policies the focus on using nat- that of pure glass fiber epoxy composites. Vigneshwaran et al.
ural fibers as an alternative had been widely investigated by [11] have reported that the incorporation of filler particles such
several researchers [1–3]. Natural fibers have several advantages as seashell powder can result in improvement in the mechanical,
such as environment friendly, ease of handling, low cost, availabil- thermal and vibration properties of the polymer composites. Dual
ity and strength to weight ratio comparable to that of synthetic et al. [12] prepared composites by using untreated coir fiber and
fibers. The structure of natural fiber mainly consists of lignin, cel- sisal fiber, treated coir fiber and sisal fiber and also blend of sisal
lulose, hemicellulose, and moisture. Natural fibers are hydrophilic and coir fiber reinforced in Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) matrix. The
in nature due to which they try to absorb moisture when exposed results indicated that the composite prepared by using the alkali
to wet conditions. Efforts had been made by the investigators to treated fibers had shown better properties compared with that of
minimize the disadvantages by hybridizing [4–6] the natural fibers other fibers. Also, the hybridization had a positive effect on the
mechanical properties of the PLA composite. Reddy et al. [13–14]
⇑ Corresponding author. had shown that the hybridization of reinforcements can be per-
E-mail address: [email protected] (S. V.). formed with more than two fibers. Epoxy based composite was

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.07.444
2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Newer Trends and Innovation in Mechanical Engineering:
Materials Science.

Please cite this article as: S. V., D. R., C. M. et al., Experimental investigation on the mechanical properties of woven hybrid fiber reinforced epoxy com-
posite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.07.444
2 S. V. et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

prepared by using Jute fiber, pineapple leaf fiber and glass fiber at 2.2. Testing methods
the ratio of 1:1:1 with the total volume fraction of fibers varying
from 18% to 42% v/v. it was reported the tensile and flexural The mechanical properties of the woven fiber composite lami-
strengths were increased by the addition of reinforcing fibers in nates were evaluated as per the ASTM standards. Tensile test
the epoxy matrix. Chemical treatment of sisal fiber surface was was conducted as per D3039 testing standard, the crosshead speed
performed by Fiore et al [15]. Sodium Bi carbonate (10% w/w) of the universal testing machine (UTM) was kept at 5 mm/min.
was used treat the raw sisal fibers, the effect of chemical treatment Load vs displacement was recorded on the computer, five samples
was studied by using Fourier transform Infrared Spectroscopy were tested and average value was considered for analysis. Flexu-
(FTIR), pycno meter analysis and Thermo Gravimetric (TGA) analy- ral test was carried on Instron UTM as per D790 standard. Three-
sis. It was found that treatment time of 120 hrs resulted in better point bending method was followed to assess the flexural strength.
mechanical properties. Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) compos- Impact test was conducted as per ASTM D256 standard in an Izod
ites were developed by Prasad et al. [15] by reinforcing treated impact tester. Moisture absorption was one of the main drawbacks
and untreated banana fiber at different weight fractions. The effect of the natural fiber reinforced composites, hence moisture absorp-
of alkali treatment and acrylic acid on the mechanical properties tion test was also conducted to evaluate the impact of stacking
were evaluated. It was shown that the acrylic acid treated banana sequence and surface treatment. The composite samples were
fiber had shown better mechanical properties with the addition of immersed in water as per ASTM D570 standard. The composite
compatibilizer. Sem images had shown better matrix – fiber inter- samples were taken at regular intervals to note down the weight
action due to the surface treatment of the fiber [16–20]. gain due to water absorption. Finally, the surface morphology
In this work, a hybrid fiber reinforced Epoxy composite was was studied by using SEM images taken from the fractured surface
developed by using woven banana fiber and glass fiber. The effect of the tensile test specimens.
of layering arrangement, and chemical treatment on the mechani-
cal properties was evaluated.
3. Results and discussion

The experimental results of mechanical properties for the

untreated woven hybrid fiber epoxy composites are listed in
Table 2. Specimen A contains only banana fiber, Specimens B and
2. Materials and methods C contain three banana fiber fabrics and two glass fiber fabrics,
specimens D and E contain two banana fiber fabrics and three glass
2.1. Materials and fabrication fiber fabrics, and Specimen F contains only glass fiber. It was
observed from the tensile test results that the specimen A have
Banana fiber and Glass fiber were used as reinforcements in this lower value of tensile strength, specimen F produced highest value
study and Epoxy resin was used as matrix material. Banana fiber of tensile strength. Banana fiber reinforced epoxy produced a ten-
was procured from M/s ROPE international Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India. sile strength of 37.2 MPa, but hybridization by glass fiber results in
The fiber was extracted from the pseudo stem of the banana tree 84 MPa in the value of tensile strength. The tensile strength values
and it was processed to remove any moisture content. The density of specimens B and C were closer to each other similarly the tensile
and tensile strength of the fiber was given as 1.35 g/cm3 and test results of specimens D and E were closer, this indicates that
600 MPa respectively. The fiber strands were then woven into a the variation in the stacking sequence had little impact on the ten-
mat format with each strand containing 10–15 banana fibers with sile strength. But the values of flexural strength vary significantly
the help of local weaver. Woven E – Glass fiber mat used in this due to different stacking sequence. It was observed from the table
study for hybridization was procured from M/s. Sakthi fibers, that the composite with glass fiber fabric at the ends produced bet-
Chennai, India. The density of the fiber is 2.56 gm/cm3. Epoxy resin ter results than their counterparts. During flexural test maximum
has better tensile strength, low shrinkage during curing and han- stress is produced at the extreme layers, placing the glass fiber fab-
dling is relatively safe than polyester, hence Epoxy resin was used ric at the ends results in sharing of maximum stress by the glass
as matrix material in this work. Epoxy resin LY566 and hardener fiber fabric, hence specimens B and E possess relatively better flex-
HY 951 were used as the matrix material. ural strength than specimens C and D.
The composite specimens were fabricated by hand layup Impact test results indicate that the effect of stacking sequence
method followed by compression technique. Both banana and glass is insignificant, but hybridization of the banana fiber composite
fiber fabrics were used in five different stacking sequences and six resulted in better values than the pure banana fiber composites.
different specimens were produced by varying the arrangement of Maximum value of impact strength was obtained for the pure glass
the woven fabrics as per the arrangement shown in Table 1. Chem- fiber reinforced epoxy composite. The value of impact strength had
ical treatment by 2% Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) solution was done increased by 54% due to hybridization. The moisture absorption
on the banana fiber, to assess the impact on the mechanical results indicate that the stacking sequence had significant influ-
properties. ence on the water absorption property. The water absorption by
the banana fiber composite is relatively higher due to the hydro-
philic nature of the fiber. But the hybridization results in reduction
Table 1
Composite specimen layering arrangements
of water absorption, but placing the glass fibers at the extremes
and specimen ID. resulted in drastic reduction in the water absorption. This is due
to the prevention of moisture entry into the composite by the glass
Specimen ID Layering arrangement
(B- banana, G-Glass)
fiber, which acts as a protective layer for the composite.
The effect of chemical treatment on the properties of tensile
A B-B-B-B-B
B G-B-B-B-G
strength was evaluated and presented in Fig. 1. It was observed
C B-G-B-G-B that the chemical treatment produced a significant improvement
D B-G-G-G-B in the tensile strength of the banana fiber composite. It is to be
E G-B-G-B-G noted that specimen F corresponds to pure glass fiber reinforced
F G-G-G-G-G
epoxy composite, hence the chemically treated value is not avail-

Please cite this article as: S. V., D. R., C. M. et al., Experimental investigation on the mechanical properties of woven hybrid fiber reinforced epoxy com-
posite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.07.444
 S. V. et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

Table 2
Mechanical properties of the hybrid fiber epoxy composite.

Specimen ID Tensile strength (MPa) Tensile modulus (GPa) Flexural strength (MPa) Flexural modulus (GPa) Impact strength (kJ/m2) Water absorption (%)
A 37.2 1.688 75.2 2.555 50.1 14.2
B 53.3 2.012 121.3 4.352 65.2 4.2
C 56.2 2.022 91.5 3.524 67.2 6.5
D 83.2 3.32 111.2 4.021 75.2 6.9
E 84 3.324 145.3 5.923 77.3 5.1
F 124.7 5.422 181.2 7.384 120.3 0.5

Fig. 1. Effect of chemical treatment on the strength of the epoxy composites.

Fig. 3. SEM image of fractured specimen E (untreated).

able. A maximum value of tensile strength for the hybrid fiber sam-
ple for specimen E was obtained as 106.68 MPa, which is 27%
higher than the untreated sample. The increase in the value of ten-
sile strength is due to better fiber matrix adhesion, this resulted in
higher load carried by the banana fibers. In general, natural fibers
tend to absorb water due to the presence of hydroxyl groups.
The treatment by Sodium Hydroxide remove the hydroxyl groups,
and removes the wax and some part of lignin and hemicellulose
are also removed. This results in better surface adhesion between
the fiber and matrix. Hence Chemical treatment is one of the effec-
tive methods in improving the mechanical properties of the natural
fiber reinforced composites.
SEM images were taken from the broken surface of tensile test
sample of specimen E and are shown in Figs. 2–4. Figs. 2 and 3
were taken from the untreated fiber reinforced composite and

Fig. 4. SEM image of fractured specimen E (treated).

Fig. 4 corresponds to the treated fiber reinforced composite. Fiber

pull out from the matrix is due to the weak fiber - matrix interac-
tion and it was observed in Figs. 2 and 3, whereas the fiber fracture
was noticed in Fig. 4. Polymers are usually hydrophobic and natu-
ral fibers are hydrophilic, this difference in characteristics results
in poor alliance between the fiber and matrix. Hence, when the
load is applied, the fiber pulls out from the matrix resulting in poor
load support by the fiber. Whereas surface treatment of the natural
fiber improves the bonding between the matrix and fiber, hence
the fiber was able to carry the load without pulling out from the
matrix. Hence surface treatment proves to be better method of
improving the mechanical properties of the natural fiber reinforced
Fig. 2. SEM image of fractured specimen E (untreated). composites.

Please cite this article as: S. V., D. R., C. M. et al., Experimental investigation on the mechanical properties of woven hybrid fiber reinforced epoxy com-
posite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.07.444
4 S. V. et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Please cite this article as: S. V., D. R., C. M. et al., Experimental investigation on the mechanical properties of woven hybrid fiber reinforced epoxy com-
posite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.07.444