Post curing temperature effect on mechanical characterization of jute/basalt fiber reinforced hybrid composites

Abstract

Fiber-reinforced polymer composites have a fast-growing performance in many areas of engineering as a replacement for metallic materials due to their low density, low cost, specific mechanical characteristics, and lower energy consumption. The efficiency of fiber-reinforced polymer composites at high temperatures is an issue that requires to be well investigated before this type of composite can be used in important engineering fields. The aim of this study is to examine the change in mechanical properties of homogeneous and hybrid composites prepared from epoxy resin reinforced with jute fabric and basalt fabric at three diverse post-curing temperatures (50°C, 70°C, and 90°C). The vacuum- assisted resin transfer molding process was used to fabricate the laminated composites. The tensile strength and microhardness values of post- cured homogeneous and hybrid composite samples were determined by tensile tests and Vickers hardness measurements. A water absorption test was also performed to determine the water absorption capacity of the fabricated composites. After tensile testing of the fabricated structures, the effect of post-curing temperatures on the interaction of the fiber-matrix interface was investigated by scanning electron microscopy analysis. The results indicate that with increasing the post-curing temperature from 50 °C to 90 °C, an improvement of 45.48% in tensile strength and 34.65% in hardness is achieved for the hybrid composites. Moreover, the results of the water absorption test show that the increased post-curing temperature reduces the water absorption capacity of the hybrid composites by 3.53 times.