Numerical and Experimental Analysis of Natural-Fiber-Reinforced Hybrid Polymer Composites
摘要
The effect of matrix material on the mechanical properties of natural fiber-reinforced hybrid composites was examined through a comparison of their experimental and numerical analysis results. In this chapter, hemp and flax fibers were utilized as reinforcement, while epoxy resin and ecopoxy resin, combined with a hardener, were employed as matrix materials (Atmakuri et al. in Polym Basel MDPI. 14:1–18, 2022 [1]). To investigate the influence of the matrix material, two sets of hybrid composites were synthesized by altering the matrix material. The composite samples were fabricated using the compression-molding technique followed by a hand layup process. A total of five distinct composites were produced by varying the weight fraction of fiber material in each set according to the rule of the hybridization process. Following fabrication, the mechanical properties of the composite samples were evaluated, and morphological studies were conducted using SEM–EDX analysis. The flexural-test fractured specimens were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Furthermore, theoretical analysis of the elastic properties of hybrid composites was performed using the Halpin–Tsai approach. The findings revealed that the hybrid composites exhibited superior properties compared to individual fiber composites. Overall, epoxy resin matrix composites demonstrated superior properties in comparison to ecopoxy matrix composites.