Effect of Hemp and Sheep Wool Reinforcements on Mechanical and Acoustic Properties in Natural Fibre Polymer Composite using Vacuum Bag Moulding Process

Natural Fibre composites are gaining popularity due to their lightweight and high strength properties and these composites are widely used in various applications like, engineering, construction, aircraft, automotive, biomedical and marine sectors. The aim is to investigate the impact of natural fibre reinforcing on mechanical and acoustic characteristics in natural fibre composites. In the current study, a 60:40 (resin: fibre) weight ratio of hemp and sheep wool fibre reinforcements with resin matrix is employed to generate natural fibre composites. Vacuum bag moulding is used to create sandwich-structured composites made of various fibres (hemp and sheep wool). The mechanical and acoustic characteristics of the generated samples are evaluated. The results demonstrate that hemp fibre reinforced polymer composites have the maximum tensile strength of 35.940 MPa when compared to sheep wool fibre reinforced polymer composites. When compared to the hemp-wool-hemp fibre sandwich-structured composite, the acoustic characteristics have a peak value of 0.817 sound absorption coefficient at 500 Hz. The study concludes that these fibres are a feasible alternative to synthetic fibres for sound absorption.