Materials Today: Proceedings 72 (2023) 2225–2230

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Materials Today: Proceedings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr

Effect of sawdust filler with Kevlar/basalt fiber on the mechanical

properties epoxy–based polymer composite materials
V. Ramesh a, K. Karthik a,⇑, K. Arunkumar a, Neethish Kumar Unnam b, R. Ganesh a, C. Rajkumar a
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr.Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, Avadi, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
b
Department of Mechanical and Electromechanical Engineering, Tamkang University, Tamsui 251301, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper aim to design and develop the new hybrid composite material high-strength lightweight
Available online 21 September 2022 and high-strength mat fibers fabricated from natural fibers has increased tremendously. The use of nat-
ural fibers has rapidly increased due to their high availability, low density, and renewable capability over
Keywords: synthetic fiber. The materials used to fabricate hybrid composite laminates are Basalt/Kevlar fiber with
Basalt fiber Sawdust particles mixed with Epoxy LY556 resin, the ratio was fixed 50:50 between the reinforcement
Kevlar fiber and matrix material. Compression molding techniques were used for fabricating laminates, followed
Sawdust particulate
by six different sample laminates with changing the stacking sequence to seven layers. After curing lam-
Epoxy LY 556
Mechanical properties
inates as per the ASTM standard followed for mechanical properties to perform the experiments, surface
SEM analysis microstructure study also carryout, the high tensile strength of 328 MPa, Flexural strength of
380 MPa, Impact strength 13 MPa, which used for automotive (4 Wheelers) the interior part may be
replaced with existing materials.
Copyright Ó 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Processing and Characterization of Materials.

1. Introduction
Hybrid composite materials are having more stiffness and
strength, Combination of synthetic and natural fibers with matrix
materials are provided lightweight and more strength. The devel-
opment of new hybrid composite material combined Basalt fiber,
Kevlar 49 with the addition of sawdust particles, when incorpo-
rated Sawdust particles increase the thickness of the composite
laminates to achieve good thermal properties [1–5].
Fiber reinforced polymer composites materials become popular
in current trends used in industrials application because of their
superior properties compared to traditional materials. Synthetic
fibers have lightweight and more stiffness. Future trends are focus-
ing on hybrid composite materials replacement of wood, plastic,
etc. A detailed study of the relevant literature is done to find out
the proper materials selections and found the research gaps, The
mechanical characterization such as tensile, flexural, impact, and
thermal properties of Hybrid Polymer Matrix Composite (HPMC)
was examined in different fiber reinforced composite materials.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: karthikmeed@gmail.com (K. Karthik).
Produced hemp Crete, which is a mixture of hemp and lime using
a projection process to find the relationship between the density of
the fibers and the properties like Young’s modulus and flexural
strength. Natural fibers are biodegradable and sustainable materi-
als [6–10].
Hybrid composite laminates synthetic/natural fiber/with the
addition of filler materials to enhance the mechanical and thermal
properties. Basalt fibers are extracted from the rock, the character-
ization high temperature withstands neat basalt fibers, Kevlar 49
fibers have high impact energy observed compared to other syn-
thetic fibers, a filler is like rice husk, bagasse, Sawdust has been
investigated in many kinds of literature, so hybridization polymer
composite laminates are the novelty of this research [11].
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials used
The reinforcement, filler, and matrix materials are used as
basalt/Kevlar/sawdust/epoxy matrix materials were used. Basalt
and Kevlar fibers are used in woven mat 300GSM, all the materials
were purchased from Mrs. Javanthi enterprises-Chennai. Sawdust

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2022.09.208
2214-7853/Copyright Ó 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Processing and Characterization of Materials.
V. Ramesh, K. Karthik, K. Arunkumar et al.
Fig. 1. Kevlar/basalt/Sawdust used for Composite Fabrication.
particles were collected from near sigma Aldrich. The average par-
ticle size is 30micron. Fig. 1 shows the kevlar/basalt/sawdust used
for Composite Fabrication. The physical properties of reinforce-
ment and matrix materials are listed below Table 1.
2.2. Methods for preparation of hybrid composites
The fiber reinforced composites were prepared by compression
technique following fiber stacking sequence techniques,
300 mm
300 mm
5 mm hybrid composite laminates reinforced
six layers of bidirectional Kevlar, basalt fiber mat in an epoxy resin
with hardener 10:1 ratio were fabricated with the micro particle of
wood saw as a filler (see Table 2).
Fig. 2 shows the different Stacking sequences used for fabrica-
tions. Total weight of Composite laminate = weight of
reinforcement + weight of the matrix.
3. Experimental setup for characterization
The goal was to determine the material’s quality as well as the
type of failure that occurred under the load applied during the test.
The test specimens utilized in this investigation to determine
mechanical properties are shown in Fig. 3.
Tensile test, flexural tests to impact, and hardness test were
performed on the same machine by altering the grip to a three-
point bend setup, as illustrated in Fig. 4. The impact strength and
hardness of the produced composite laminates were measured
using an Izod impact testing machine and Shore D hardness testing
equipment, Three samples were considered for each mechanical
characterization experiment, and the average of the three is pro-
vided as the mechanical property values in this research. The
hybrid laminate combinations were coded as S3, S4, S5, and S6,
while the remaining two neat composite laminate configurations
were coded as S1 and S2, respectively, for comparing mechanical
properties [12–16].
Table 1
Mechanical Properties of the Reinforcement Materials.
Fibers Tensile strength (MPa) Young’s Modulus (GPa)
Basalt 4800 72.35
Kevlar 49 4000 75.8
Sawdust 100 50.2
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Materials Today: Proceedings 72 (2023) 2225–2230
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Tensile strength of produced hybrid composites
The tensile strength of the composites containing kevlar and
basalt fibers as the reinforcement materials in mat form in differ-
ent stacking sequences were compared to determine the influence
of compression molding on their strength. Fig. 8 shows the varia-
tions of tensile strength of fabricated composite laminates with
different sequencing arrangements. Plain fibers, and alternative
fibers were added with sawdust with varying weight percentages
with epoxy matrix composites. Exhibited a higher tensile strength
in each sequencing combination compared to epoxy resin compos-
ites. Maximum tensile strength of 328 MPa was observed for the
composite fabricated with CBCBCB sequence with Sawdust 15 wt
% arrangement as compared with other combinations.
The CBCBCB sequenced composite laminate exhibited a maxi-
mum tensile strength due to the presence of sawdust as the outer
reinforcement material which increases the tensile strength by
10 % (310–328 MPa) to compare the CBCBCB sequence. This
showed that the addition of kevlar fillers will enhance the tensile
properties of composites. Fig. 4. Shows the Comparison of Tensile
Strength between the Composites, The mechanical properties of
laminates fiber with 15 % filler sandwiched between alternatives
developed the highest tensile strength of 328 MPa. When com-
pared to neat laminates S2 has a maximum 280 MPa, and CBCBCB
hybrid composite laminates S3, S4, and S5 enhance the mechanical
properties due to the interfacial layer of boning between fiber and
particle. It was observed that the composite having stacking
sequence CBCBCB with filler content had a 20 % increase in its ten-
sile strength [15–20].
4.2. Flexural properties of produced composites
The bending strength kevlar and basalt fibers as the reinforce-
ment materials in mat form in different stacking sequences with
the addition of SiC were compared. This is done to determine the
influence of chemical treatment on its flexural strength. Fig. 5
shows the comparison of neat laminates and hybrid composites
with filler materials. Reason of isotropic synthetic of the woven
Density (g/m3 ) Poisson’s ratio Weave type
2.6 0.2 Woven mat
3.2 0.3 Woven mat
1.44 0.2 particulate
V. Ramesh, K. Karthik, K. Arunkumar et al. Materials Today: Proceedings 72 (2023) 2225–2230

Table 2
Specimen stacking with compositions.

Specimen code Sequence Composition sample Weight% Matrix Weight% Fibers Total weight % composite
S1 BBBBBB Epoxy 50 50 100
S2 KKKKKK Epoxy 50 50 100
S3 KBKBKB Epoxy 50 50 100
S4 KBKBKB Epoxy + 5 % Sawdust 45 50 100
S5 KBKBKB Epoxy + 10 % Sawdust 40 50 100
S6 KBKBKB Epoxy + 15 % Sawdust 35 50 100

Fig. 2. Development of hybrid composite fabrications.

Fig. 3. A universal testing machine used to conduct the experiments,

Fig. 4. Comparison of Tensile Strength for hybrid laminates.

fibers, with the addition of filler materials to enhance the bending

properties.
The composites containing neat basalt fiber have lower flexural
strength compared to their respective counterparts. All the six lay-
ers of composites without filler content had the least flexural
strength of 160 MPa, followed by the composite containing added
SiC filler in all fibers with 380 MPa. Since the fibers could not assist
in the absorption and transmission of applied load, much of the
weight was taken by the fiber and resin. These bending strengths
were used to compare the strength of various composites. In the
instance of the one with three intermediate layers of kevlar, using
kevlar particles as the filler reinforcement material enhanced the
flexural strength by 5 %. Similarly, increasing the proportion of kev-
lar fillers enhanced flexural strength. These measurements demon-
strated that the addition of SiC filler improved the flexural
characteristics of the composites. However, the basalt fiber had
lost its ability to bear the applied load. These led to a comparatively
smaller decrease in flexural strength. The study revealed that the
hybrid composites that had SiC filler and matrix between kevlar

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V. Ramesh, K. Karthik, K. Arunkumar et al.
Fig. 5. Comparison of flexural Strength for hybrid laminates.
fibers developed the highest flexural strength of 380 MPa. The
epoxy matrix of individual synthetic fibers enhanced the flexural
strength. Kevlar contents increased the strength of the materials.
This method satisfied the surface strength and endurance. Bending
stress and elastic modulus also increased due to the addition of
kevlar contents.
4.3. Impact test of produced composites
Fig. 6 shows the variation of impact strength. In comparison to
S1, hybrid composites from S3 to S6 could only produce low impact
strength, It is hypothesized that layering successive layers of the
same reinforcement fibers enhanced stiffness, which helped to
improve impact strength. The plain laminate S2 and hybrid lami-
nate S1, which contain all six layers of basalt strands and alter-
nately stacked basalt fibers are produced more impact strength.
In terms of relative strength, the hybrid composite including alter-
natively stacked basalt fibers sandwiching kevlar fibers, classified
as S6, absorbed the highest amount of energy 13 J. Its equivalents,
which were designated as S3 and contained alternatively stacked
basalt strands sandwiching basalt fibers, had a higher impact
strength, absorbing 8 J of impact energy.
Fig. 6. Comparison of Impact Strength for hybrid laminates.
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Materials Today: Proceedings 72 (2023) 2225–2230
The impact absorbed energy is a maximum of 3 J for the hybrid
composite, pure basalt fiber absorbed 3 J, compared to plain basalt
and kevlar fiber the hybrid composite laminates produced maxi-
mum impact energy. To vary the stacking sequence of (CBCBCB)
with epoxy matrix withstand up to 13 J.
4.4. Hardness of produced composites
Fig. 7 illustrates the hardness of the six hybrids and two plain
composite laminates manufactured for this investigation with only
basalt or kevlar fibers as their composition. The specimen with all
six layers of basalt fibers as reinforcement (S1) had the lowest
shore-D hardness of the 35. Its counterpart, which had all six layers
of kevlar fibers (S2), had a hardness of 50. When varying the stack-
ing sequence of the hybrid composite were getting a maximum of
48.
In comparison to basalt fibers, the basalt fiber appears to be able
to absorb more hardness.S3, S4, S5, and S6 hybrid composites, on
the other hand, may all achieve a hardness comparable to S6. This
demonstrates that hybridization affects the toughness of the com-
posite laminates that develop.
4.5. Fractographical Image of tensile fracture specimens
The Fig. 8. Shows microstructure Image of Tensile Fracture
Composites specimen surface morphology under tension condi-
tion. It happened for different reasons like matrix crack, fiber
breakage, fiber pull-out from the matrix, and deboning between
fiber and matrix [16].
Fiber failure due to more load applied in transverse directions.
Specimens 1, and 5 load transfer the same matrix without the addi-
tion of filler content. In this study 60 wt% of fiber composites mis-
erably failed to share and distribute the weight. In the same way,
the laminate sample uneven additive filler distribution particulate
is created agglomeration is produced for a matrix crack due to
transverse load. The images revealed micro-voids, fiber breakages,
and fibers in another section along with the composites. These
affected tensile and flexural strength. However, in the epoxy
matrix, the hybrid fibers enhanced the mechanical properties
because the tissues lost their hygroscopic property. The SEM image
also revealed that the microspores were the major contributor to
the breakage while applying load [16]. The fracture of composite
with stacking sequence CBCBCB has an epoxy matrix along with
Fig. 7. Comparison of hardness value for hybrid laminates.
V. Ramesh, K. Karthik, K. Arunkumar et al.
Fig. 8. SEM Image of Tensile Fracture Composites specimens.
its counterparts having fibers. The pictures indicated that the
threads, together with the composites, had managed to form holes
in another region. This had an impact on the hybrid composite’s
flexural load-bearing performance.
The flexural strength of the hybrid composites against the ones
that had only one reinforcement material. There was a 5–10 %
improved bending strength of composites that had all three rein-
forcements in varying stacking sequences and adding filler materi-
als against their counterparts having fibers. Among all the
composites, the stacking sequence CBCBCB with fibers showed a
maximum flexural strength of 380 MPa. Minimum defects were
observed during the water absorption test in them. In general, thin
stranded kevlar fiber was used between the kevlar reinforcing
components in these stacking sequences. This combination,
together with the bidirectional arrangement of the woven fibers,
helped to uniformly distribute the applied load across the layers,
improving its capacity to bear external weight [18–20].
5. Conclusions
Novel hybrid fiber reinforced epoxy matrix with filled Sawdust
particles composite were fabricated in a variety of configurations
in different/matrix from 5 wt% to 15 wt% reinforced to have six dif-
ferent compositions, it was conducted on tensile, flexural, impact,
hardness, dynamic mechanical analysis properties and morpholog-
ical properties to draw:
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Materials Today: Proceedings 72 (2023) 2225–2230
1. The specimen labeled as ‘S60 Epoxy matrix with 15 wt% of saw-
dust particulate composition gave high strength of 328 MPa for
tensile properties compared to neat and hybrid.
2. Bending properties improved epoxy matrix with filler Sawdust
particles reinforced 15 wt% compositions gave flexural strength
of 380 MPa, beyond the properties started laminates are failure
occurred in the specimen.
3. Epoxy matrix with filler content for tensile, flexural properties
composition 15 wt% Sawdust particle reinforcement have min-
imum shock absorbed energy, compared to neat and hybrid
epoxy specimen 0 wt%, 5 wt%, 10 wt%, 15 wt%, where the epoxy
matrix performed impact strength 13 J/s.
4. The shore-D hardness values showed with 15 wt% of Sawdust
particle were added, the high of 72 for epoxy matrix and epoxy
matrix, Fractured and failure were analyzed after conducting
tensile and flexural specimens, many interfacial between the
fibers mat, an epoxy matrix was noticed in SEM. In additive par-
ticles, fiber pull-out, matrix deboning, voids, fiber breakages,
and delamination were also noticed, the addition of Sawdust
developed the interplay bonding between the fiber and matrix
maximum of 50 %, these experimentation and investigation
confirm that 15 wt%.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
V. Ramesh: Conceptualization, Data curation. K. Karthik: Writ-
ing – review & editing, Project administration, Resources. K.
V. Ramesh, K. Karthik, K. Arunkumar et al.
Arunkumar: Investigation. Neethish Kumar Unnnam: Methodol-
ogy, Validation, Visualization. R. Ganesh: Formal analysis. C.
Rajkumar: Supervision.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
The first author thanks the management of Vel Tech Rangarajan
Dr Sagunthala R&D Institute of Science and Technology, Centre for
Autonomous System Research, and Department of Mechanical
Engineering for providing constant support throughout the project
work.
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