Static and dynamic mechanical behavior of intra-hybrid jute/sisal and flax/kenaf reinforced polypropylene composites

The current experimental investigation examines the effect of the warp/weft orientation of jute/sisal and flax/kenaf fibers on the static and dynamic mechanical characteristics of intra-woven hybrid composites. Jute (J), sisal (S), flax (F), and kenaf (K) hybrid woven mats were explicitly designed to keep fibers in the warp and weft directions. Intra-hybrid-composites with JJ, JS, SJ, SS, FF, FK, KF, and KK type hybrid woven mats with polypropylene matrix were processed using the compression molding/film stacking method. The tensile and flexural, and the dynamic mechanical behavior was investigated. Utilizing a scanning electron microscope, the fractured surface of tensile test specimens was examined. The results indicate that combining jute with sisal and flax with kenaf improved the mechanical properties of pure sisal and kenaf based composites. Hybridized composites exhibited the maximum increment in tensile strength (5.95% and 31.16%), tensile modulus (4.20% and 66.64%), flexural strength (12.59% and 5.69%), and flexural modulus (47.10% and 19.72%) for JS and FK composites, when compared with unhybridized SS and KK composites, respectively. The fiber hybridization and warp/weft sequence have a substantial effect on the dynamic mechanical performance of woven fiber laminated composites. It was identified that composites of JS and FK possess a higher storage modulus than pure SS and KK based composites, respectively. In addition, at a temperature of 50 degrees C, the storage modulus was improved by 37.63% and 136.63%, for JS and FK hybrid composites, respectively in comparison to the unhybridized SS and KK composites, respectively.