Mechanical, thermal, and water absorption properties of hybrid wood composites

Abstract

The present study reveals the characterization of hybrid wood composites. The effect of hybridization of sal wood on the mechanical, thermal, and water absorption properties of mango wood reinforced epoxy polymer composite was studied. The wood composites were prepared by hand lay-up technique by maintaining a constant 33 wt% of total wood flour content with varying weight ratios. Mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural, and impact were investigated as per the ASTM standards. In addition, dynamic mechanical properties in terms of glass transition temperature [Formula: see text], storage modulus [Formula: see text], and damping (tanδ) were also studied. The degradation of wood composites with respect to temperature was analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis. Water absorption properties were carried out in terms of percentage of water absorption at saturation stage, and sorption, diffusion, and permeability coefficient. The results suggested that mechanical, thermal, and water resistance properties were significantly enhanced due to hybridization. Moreover, the best mechanical performance among all composites was seen for hybrid wood composite with equal proportion of mango and sal woods. The present prepared composites can be proposed for use in various industries such as automobile, building and construction, marine, packaging, and aerospace.