Experimental Testing on Hybrid Composite Materials

Abstract

In recent trend, the most used fiber reinforced composite is the glass fiber composite. The glass-fiber composites have high strength and mechanical properties but it is costlier than sisal and jute fiber. Though the availability of the sisal and jute fiber is more, it cannot be used for high strength applications. A high strength-low cost fiber may serve the purpose. This project focuses on the experimental testing of hybrid composite materials. The hybrid composite materials are manufactured using three different fibers - sisal, glass and jute with epoxy resin with weight ratio of fiber to resin as 30:70. Four combinations of composite materials viz., sisal-epoxy, jute-epoxy, sisal-glass-epoxy and sisal-jute-epoxy are manufactured to the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) standards. The specimens are tested for their mechanical properties such as tensile and impact strength in Universal Testing machine. The results are compared with that of the individual properties of the glass fiber, sisal fiber, jute fiber composite and improvements in the strength-weight ratio and mechanical properties are studied.