Investigation of the Mechanical Behavior of Acacia—Raffia Natural Fiber Composite

Abstract

Nowadays, industries place a strong emphasis on low-cost, biodegradable materials with long lifespans. As a result, businesses are concentrating on creating composite materials utilizing the world’s plentiful supply of natural fibers. In this study, acacia and raffia fibers are combined with epoxy resin and a hand layup method to create a biodegradable composite laminate. This article investigates the effect of fiber orientation on the mechanical and morphological evaluation of composite materials that have been manufactured. Three different kinds of composites were fabricated in this work: Composite 1, which contained acacia fiber; Composite 2, which was built of acacia and raffia fiber; and Composite 3, which was made of raffia fiber. While Composite 2 is a hybrid composite in this instance, Composites 1 and 3 are monofiber composites. In accordance with the ASTM standards, testing was performed to investigate the different mechanical behaviors, including tensile, flexural, double shear, delamination, hardness, and impact. The results demonstrate that Composite 1 has strong tensile strength, flexural strength, double shear, and hardness tests with a 45° fiber orientation. The 90° fiber orientation of Composite 1 performs well in the inter delamination test. The result demonstrates that composite 1 of type 0 absorbs greater energy. Additionally, Scanning electron microscopy was used to conduct morphological examinations in order to investigate the internal structural failure of the composites. It was found that the composite laminate has fiber cracks, pullouts, and voids, which were reduced with the right curing times and stress.