Mechanical characterization of kenaf/glass fibre hybrid composite laminates: An experimental and numerical approach

The potentials of natural fibre encourage researchers to shift their interest from synthetic fibre. Numerous works have been done on the effective use of several natural fibres in manufacturing composites for automotive and structural applications. In the current investigation, effort has been made to evaluate the effect of the addition of glass fibre and influence of stacking sequence on mechanical properties of kenaf-/glass-reinforced hybrid composite laminates. Hybrid laminates with five different stacking sequences were fabricated by using hand layup technique. After curing, the fabricated composite laminates were cut to the dimension as per ASTM standard. Different tests have been carried out to determine tensile strength, flexural strength, and micro-hardness of fabricated laminates. Based on the findings, a sharp increase in mechanical properties is observed due to addition of glass fibre. Laminate with four layers of kenaf fibre shows minimum values of tensile strength, flexural strength and micro-hardness values. On subsequent addition of glass layer to the laminates, an increase in tensile strength from 35.78 to 166.38 MPa, flexural strength from 42.91 MPa to 155.83 MPa and micro-hardness value from 11.51 to 20.84 HV are reflected. To validate the experimental findings, numerical analysis has been made by using ANSYS R19.0 software. On comparison of experimental and numerical values, the deviation of the result is limited to 3%-12%. The morphology of fracture surfaces is also studied by using scanning electron microscope.