Mechanical and thermal properties of hybrid date palm/sea purslane reinforced hybrid epoxy composites for automotive applications

The present work reports the effect of hybridization on mechanical, thermo-physical, and water absorption properties of date palm petiole (DP)/sea purslane (SP) fiber reinforced hybrid epoxy composites. Using a standard hand lay-up method, five types of composites were fabricated (C₁, C₂, H₁, H₂, and H₃) taking 20 wt% of fibers as reinforcement. Various physical properties (density, void content), mechanical properties (tensile, flexural, impact and hardness), thermal properties (thermogravimetric analysis), and water absorption properties were investigated. It was observed that H₃ (5wt %DP + 15wt%SP) type composites reveal highest mechanical properties and better thermal properties. It also shows less void content with comparison to other fabricated composites which enhances its hardness. With better properties, the fabricated hybrid composites can be used for fabrication of automotive exterior parts as well as dashboard and interior door panels.