Effect of fiber content and their hybridization on bending and torsional strength of hybrid epoxy composites reinforced with carbon and sugar palm fibers

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of fiber hybridization of sugar palm yarn fiber with carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites. In this work, sugar palm yarn composites were reinforced with epoxy at varying fiber loads of 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt % using the hand lay-up process. The hybrid composites were fabricated from two types of fabric: sugar palm yarn of 250 tex and carbon fiber as the reinforcements, and epoxy resin as the matrix. The ratios of 85: 15 and 80: 20 were selected for the ratio between the matrix and reinforcement in the hybrid composite. The ratios of 50: 50 and 60: 40 were selected for the ratio between sugar palm yarn and carbon fiber. The mechanical properties of the composites were characterized according to the flexural test (ASTM D790) and torsion test (ASTM D5279). It was found that the increasing flexural and torsion properties of the non-hybrid composite at fiber loading of 15 wt % were 7.40% and 75.61%, respectively, compared to other fiber loading composites. For hybrid composites, the experimental results reveal that the highest flexural and torsion properties were achieved at the ratio of 85/15 reinforcement and 60/40 for the fiber ratio of hybrid sugar palm yarn/carbon fiber-reinforced composites. The results from this study suggest that the hybrid composite has a better performance regarding both flexural and torsion properties. The different ratio between matrix and reinforcement has a significant effect on the performance of sugar palm composites. It can be concluded that this type of composite can be utilized for beam, construction applications, and automotive components that demand high flexural strength and high torsional forces.