Experimental Investigation of Mechanical and Morphological Properties of Flax-Glass Fiber Reinforced Hybrid Composite using Finite Element Analysis

The use of cellulosic fibers as reinforcing materials in polymer composites has gained popularity due to an increasing trend for developing sustainable materials. In the present experimental study, flax and glass fiber reinforced partially eco-friendly hybrid composites are fabricated with two different fiber orientations of 0 degrees and 90 degrees. The mechanical properties of these composites such as tensile, flexural and impact strengths have been evaluated. From the experiments, it has been observed that the composites with the 0 degrees fiber orientation can hold the maximum tensile strength of 82.71 MPa, flexural strength of 143.99 MPa, and impact strength of 4 kJ/m(2). Whereas the composites with 90 degrees fiber orientation can withstand the maximum tensile strength of 75.64 MPa, flexural strength of 134.86 MPa, and impact strength of 3.99 kJ/m(2). Morphological analysis is carried out to analyze fiber matrix interfaces and the structure of the fractured surfaces by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The finite element analysis (FEA) has been carried out to predict the resulting important mechanical properties by using ANSYS 12.0. From the results it is found that the experimental results are very close to the results predicted from FEA model values. It is suggested that these hybrid composites can be used as alternate materials for pure synthetic fiber reinforced polymer composite materials.