Effect of elastomeric filler content on the acoustic and mechanical response of natural fiber-based hybrid composites

The environmental threat of discarded tires needs to be addressed through alternative applications with the enormous increase in the global vehicle population. When tire rubber particles are combined with environmentally friendly, and biodegradable natural fibers in polymer composites, such materials have a lot of potential for use in a variety of applications of insulating structures. The current work explores the effect of adding waste tire rubber particles (TRP) to natural fiber-based hybrid composites, on mechanical and acoustic properties and investigate the possibility of a potential insulating structural material. Tire rubber particles were employed as fillers and chopped banana fibers as reinforcing fibers (particle size less than 400 \(\upmu\) $\mathrm{\mu }$ m) with epoxy resin as the matrix in this work. Five compositions were formulated in which the TRP content was varied from 0 to 36 wt.%, compensating for the fiber wt.%. The different compositions prepared by compression molding technique were subjected to compressive, impact, and acoustic characterization. In the natural fiber composites, the compressive strength was observed to dip with increase in TRP content while impact strength was found to rise till 15 wt.% TRP content. Beyond 15 wt.% TRP fillers, the impact strength and brittleness declined. The optimal acoustic response in terms of the sound transmission loss was observed for the composition with 15 wt.% TRP fillers. Polymer composites with natural fiber reinforcing and elastomeric fillers create excellent interior lining materials for buildings, automobiles, and aircrafts, because of their superior mechanical properties and acoustic proofing.