Fabrication and Property Evaluation of Banana-Hemp-Glass Fiber Reinforced Composites

The role of natural and manmade fibers reinforced hybrid composite materials are growing in a faster rate in the field of engineering and technology due to its favorable properties. In the present unsustainable environmental condition natural fibers are serving better material in terms of biodegradability, low cost, high strength and corrosion resistance when compared to conventional materials. The benefits of components and products designed and produced in hybrid composite materials instead of metals recognized by many industries. The main objective of this experimental study is to fabricate the banana-hemp-glass fibers reinforced hybrid composites and to evaluate the mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength and impact strength. There are three different types hybrid laminates are fabricated by hand lay-up method by using glass, banana and hemp fibers as reinforcing material with epoxy resin. The specimen is prepared according to ASTM standards and the experiment has been carried out by using universal testing machine (UTM). From the experimental results, it has been observed that the banana- hemp-glass fibers reinforced hybrid epoxy composites exhibited superior properties and used as an alternate material for synthetic fiber reinforced composite materials. Morphological examinations are carried out to analyze the interfacial characteristics, internal structures, fiber failure mode and fractured surfaces by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.