The Influence of Woven Density on Tensile Properties of Hybrid Kenaf/Glass Composites (original) (raw)
Related papers
Natural–synthetic fiber hybrid composites offer a combination of high mechanical properties from the synthetic fibers and the advantages of renewable fibers to produce a material with highly specific and determined properties. In this study, plain-woven kenaf/glass reinforced unsaturated polyester (UP) hybrid composites were fabricated using the hand lay-up method with a cold hydraulic press in a sandwich-configuration laminate. The glass was used as a shell with kenaf as a core, with an approximate total fiber content of 40%. Three glass/kenaf weight ratios percentages of (70/30)% (H1), (55/45)% (H2), and (30/70)% (H3) were used to fabricate hybrid composites. Also pure glass/UP and kenaf/UP were fabricated for comparison purposes. Monotonic tests, namely tensile, compression, and flexural strengths of the composites, were performed. The morphological properties of tensile and compression failure of kenaf and hybrid composites were studied. In addition, uniaxial tensile fatigue life of hybrid composites were conducted and evaluated. The results revealed that the hybrid composite (H1) offered a good balance and the best static properties, but in tensile fatigue loading (H3) displayed low fatigue sensitivity when compared with the other hybrid composites.
Mechanical Characterisation of Woven Kenaf Fabric as Reinforcement for Composite Materials
Journal of Natural Fibers, 2019
Kenaf is one of the common economic crops favoured by many plantations due to its many uses. The fabric is produced from the bast fibres of kenaf plant which is biodegradable and tough. This research aims at investigating the effect of fabric orientation, moisture content and different batches (storage age) of kenaf fabrics on the tensile properties. The tensile properties of kenaf fabrics in two different directions which are warp and weft are compared. Furthermore, two different batches of plain-woven kenaf fabric were analysed to study their tensile properties. In the case of moisture content effect, the fabrics in warp and weft orientations were tested at saturated moisture condition for their tensile properties. The findings concluded that the tensile strength of kenaf fabric in the weft was 28.3 % and 24.7% higher than warp orientation for the old and new batches of kenaf fabrics respectively. In overall, moisture uptake of kenaf fabrics reduced the tensile strength of kenaf fabrics regardless of different fabric orientations and batches. The results also demonstrated that the different batches of kenaf fabrics had no significant effect on the tensile properties.
Tensile and Compressive Properties of Woven Kenaf/Glass Sandwich Hybrid Composites
International Journal of Polymer Science, 2016
Monotonic (tensile and compression) properties of woven kenaf/glass reinforced unsaturated polyester sandwich hybrid composites have been experimentally investigated. Five types of composites laminates were fabricated using a combination of hand lay-up and cold press techniques, postcured for two hours at 80°C and left for 48 hours at room temperature. The hybrid composites contained fixed six layers of glass as a shell, three on each side, whereas the number of core kenaf layers was changed in three stages to get S1, S2, and S3 hybrid composites. Composites specimens with pure glass and kenaf were also fabricated for comparison. It was found that one kenaf layer replaced about 20% of total fiber weight fraction of the composite; this leads to reducing the density of final hybrid composite by 13%. Besides, in mechanical properties perspective, there are less than 1% reduction in compression strength and 40% in tensile strength when compared to pure glass composite. Generally, the re...
The go-green concept results in multipoint focus towards materials made from nature; easily decompos-able and recyclable polymeric materials and their composites along with natural fibres ignited the manufacturing sectors to go for higher altitudes in engineering industries. This is due to the health hazard and environmental problems faced in manufacturing and disposal of synthetic fibres. This study was undertaken to analyse the suitability of new natural fibre as an alternative reinforcement for composite materials. In this paper, tensile, flexural and impact test is made for the woven alovera and kenaf (AK), sisal and kenaf (SK), alovera, sisal and kenaf fibre hybrid epoxy composites (ASK). The composite laminates are made through a hand-layup process. The surface analysis is studied through scanning electron microscopy. From the investigation the SK hybrid composite shows good tensile property , AK hybrid composite shows better flexural property and the best impact strength is observed for ASK hybrid composite. The natural fibres slowly replace the synthetic fibres from its environmental impact, marching towards a revolution in engineering materials.
Mechanical Behaviour of Unbalanced Woven Kenaf Reinforced Polyester Composites
2016
Awareness has been arisen towards bio-degradable materials instead of unrecyclable materials which burden the mother earth. The availability of kenaf fibre in Malaysia as an agricultural crops facilitates local researchers to have full control on kenaf fibre starting from planting, handling, fabrication and up to manufacturing finished products. This research involved tensile analyses of unbalance woven kenaf/polyester composite comparing two deferent type of woven density. Woven kenaf fabrics were weaved using lab scale self-designed hand loom . Cold compression method was used to fabricate the 2-ply composite panel at controlled fibre weight fraction. The tensile modulus, ultimate strength and maximum failure strain were revealed in this study . Kenaf with different woven density shows a comparable tensile strength. Failure mechanism analysis have found that fractured was dominant by kenaf yarn. Highest crimp percentage of woven kenaf shows significantly similar responds.
Mechanical performance of woven kenaf-Kevlar hybrid composites
Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites, 2014
Hybrid composites offer a combination of advantages of constituent components to produce a material with determined properties. In the present work, woven hybrid composite was prepared by hand lay-up method in laminate configuration. Kevlar/kenaf hybrid composites were fabricated with total fibre content of 30% and the ratio of Kevlar/kenaf varies in weight fraction of 78/22, 60/40, 50/50, 26/74, and 32/68, respectively. The Kevlar/epoxy and kenaf/epoxy were also prepared for comparison. The mechanical properties of hybrid, kenaf/epoxy, and Kevlar/epoxy composites were tested. Morphological properties of tensile fracture surface of hybrid composites were studied by scanning electron microscopy. Results have established that the mechanical properties of kenaf-Kevlar hybrid composites are a function of fibre content. The hybrid composites with Kevlar/kenaf (78/22) ratio exhibited better mechanical properties compared to other hybrid composites. This result indicates the potential of Kevlar-kenaf hybrid composite for impact applications.
Mechanical properties of kenaf/fiberglass polyester hybrid composite
In a view to reduce the cost of production and the harmful destruction in normal environment, there's a lot of research have been conducted or still ongoing for the possibility of using natural fibers which are wholly degradable in the combination of biodegradable thermoplastic materials. This research will focus on Kenaf; an extremely valuable natural fiber with robust mechanical properties. In this research, kenaf fiber/fiberglass reinforced with unsaturated polyester composites were subjected to water absorption test. Water absorption test were conducted by immersing specimens into three different environmental conditions including sea water, distilled water and rain water (acidic solutions) at room temperature from 1 st day until 4 th week. The effect of the mechanical strength of the hybrid composties is investigated. In general, the mechanical properties of kenaf fiber are deteriorated after the moisture penetrates into the composite. The strain to failure increases from 1 st day until 3 rd week followed by a drastically drop at 4 th week. The humidity aging is one of the evidence found in SEM micrograph which contributes to the reduction of tensile modulus.
Due to both environmental and technical advantages, natural fibers are being used as reinforcement of polymeric composite in many industries. The flexibility of the most natural fibers is one of the important technical characteristic which allows them to resist impact forces. An investigation was carried out to compare the energy absorption capability of kenaf/PVB film and kenaf/epoxy composites. The hot and cold press techniques were used to fabricate the specimens with 35% kenaf fibre weight fraction. The charpy impact test was performed on forty notched specimens using a pendulum impact tester with different hammer energy. The results showed that the kenaf/PVB film composite has the highest energy absorption, strength and toughness compared with the epoxy composite. At high energy levels, the impact strength and toughness of the kenaf/PVB film was six times of kenaf/epoxy composite. In addition, the scanning electron microscopy was assessed to demonstrate the different failure in fracture surfaces. It was found that the kenaf/PVB film composite failed by fibre fracture while kenaf/epoxy composite failed by a combination of fibre pull-out and fibre fracture as well as crack propagations through the matrix.
Polymer Composites, 2014
The challenges of using natural fibers in polymer composites include high moisture uptake and poor interfacial bonding with thermoplastic matrix. In this study, the effect of hybridization was investigated to address the challenges of high moisture uptake and balanced mechanical properties in natural fiber reinforced polymer composites. Polyethylene terephthalate fiber (PET) was used in woven kenaf reinforced POM due to its hydrophobic characteristics. The results of tensile test showed that the tensile strength of the interwoven POM/kenaf/PET hybrid composite when tested along kenaf fiber direction, increased from 72 to 85 MPa due to increase in fiber content. Similarly, the tensile strength of the interwoven POM/kenaf/PET hybrid composite increased from 67 to 75 MPa. However, the flexural strength of the interwoven POM/kenaf/PET hybrid composite dropped from 160.1 to 104.9 MPa while that of woven POM/kenaf composite dropped from 191.4 to 90.3 MPa. The interwoven hybrid composite also showed significant improvement in impact strength compared to the woven POM/kenaf composite. The water absorption of the woven POM/kenaf composite dropped by approximately 30% due to hybridization with PET fiber. The results confirmed that hybridization with PET fiber significantly improved the tensile and impact properties of the woven composite and increased its resistance to moisture uptake. POLYM. COMPOS., 00:000-000,