MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF HYBRID NATURAL

FIBER REINFORCED WITH EPOXY MATRIX

COMPOSITES WITH SiC AS FILLER
1 2 3 4
Devaiah Malkapuram, Gattoji Murali Krishna, N. N. Dinesh, G. Sai Siddharth Reddy
1,2,3,4
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Geethanjali College of Engineering & Technology

ABSTRACT MIXING RATIOS

In this paper, a hybrid natural fiber reinforced epoxy matrix composites which is widely used 1. Material: Epoxy Resin – Huntsman LY556
in automobile, Furniture and other engineering applications, which is reinforced with Silicon Percentage – 100%
Carbide Filler is taken in different weight ratios. The composite laminates were fabricated 2. Material: Hardener – Huntsman HY951
using hand lay-up technique with different percentage of hybrid fiber and SiC filler and their Percentage – 10%
mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength and hardness have been 3. Material: Filler – Silicon Carbide (SiC)
studied. It is observed that the tensile and flexural strength increases with hybrid fiber Percentage – 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%
reinforcement and SiC filler. Failure mechanism of hybrid fiber composites has been
discussed using scanning electron microscopy.

METHODOLOGY
1. Procurement of materials required for the fabrication of composites laminates.
2. Method of Fabrication.
3. Calculation of mixing ratios of epoxy, hardener and SiC filler.
4. Fabrication of Composite Laminates using Hand Lay-up technique. Displacement (mm)
Tensile Strength
5. Machining of Specimen as per ASTM standards D638 for Tensile, D790-Flexural strength.
6. Testing of specimen at various loads.
7. Comparison of results and study of their Properties.

SEQUENCE SPECIMEN HEMP % JUTE % EPOXY% FILLER% TOTAL%

JHJHJHJH SAMPLE 1 18% 9% 73% 0% 100%

(97 g) (48 g) (390 g) (535gm)
18% 9% 67% 5% 100%
JHJHJHJH SAMPLE 2 (97 g) (48 g) (370.5 g) (19.5 g) (535gm)
Flexural Strength

18% 9% 63% 10% 100%

JHJHJHJH SAMPLE 3 (97 g) (48 g) (351 g) (39 g) (535gm)
ASTM STANDARD SPECIMEN
JHJHJHJH 18% 9% 58% 15% 100%
SAMPLE 4 (97 g) (48 g) (331.5 g) (58.5 g) (535gm)

RESULTS SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

CONCLUSION
TENSILE STRENGTH FLEXURAL STRENGTH
Composite filled with 10% SiC filler has
Ultimate
SiC Flexural exhibited very good Tensile strength and flexural
S. Tensile SiC strength. With more Increase of SiC filler above
filler strength
S. No. filler 10% the strength of composites has drastically
No. Strength (MPa)
% % reduced. Overall the study shows that the
(N/mm2) incorporation of silicon Carbide (SiC) as filler in
1. 0 46.154 1. 0 144.5 Hemp/Jute fiber reinforced epoxy composites
results in improvement on mechanical
2. 5 40.792 2. 5 181.78
properties, up to a limiting value. Above this
3. 10 51.864 3. 10 193.14 limit decreased performance is expected as a
4. 15 39.214 4. 15 159.05 result of SiC agglomeration in the matrix.