Partial replacement of synthetic fibres by natural fibres in hybrid composites and its effect on monotonic properties

Owing to the high cost of carbon fibres and a necessity for finding alternatives that environmentally friendly, a portion of carbon fibres was substituted by woven jute fibre, with various stacking sequences for military applications. Hot press was used to fabricate the composite and hybrid samples of jute/carbon fibres reinforced polyvinyl butyral film using as a layer. Dynamic mechanical experiments (DMA) were conducted with more focus on the stacking sequences of jute and carbon, with increasing temperature. Results showed that the carbon/jute/carbon (H1) hybrid has the highest storage modulus and loss modulus values compared with other hybrids. Significantly, placing woven jute fibre at the outer layers and carbon fibres at the inner layers provided lower dynamic mechanical properties than that of the hybrids with placing jute at the inner layers. Besides, the damping factor shifts to higher temperatures by hybridization of jute fibres compared with carbon composite. Additionally, glass transition temperature (Tg) obtained from the damping curve and loss modulus exhibits a temperature between 129 and 180celcius for all composites, in withstanding dynamic loads. The dynamic mechanical properties were observed to be decreased with increasing temperature for all laminated composites. From results, it could be deduced that it is possible to reduce amount of carbon fibres in different composites industries with woven jute, thus providing less both cost and harmful environment.

Automated summary

The study explored the use of jute fibers as substitutes for carbon fibers in composite materials, demonstrating that carbon/jute hybrids exhibit superior dynamic mechanical properties. Placing carbon fibers in the inner layers and jute fibers in the outer layers resulted in reduced performance compared to hybrids with jute in the inner layers. Hybridization with jute fibers increased the damping factor at higher temperatures.