Characterization of Mechanical and Damping Properties of Carbon/Jute Fibre Hybrid SMC Composites

Growing environmental concerns and high material costs are becoming significant challenges for the large-scale application of high-performance Sheet Moulding Compounds (SMCs) in the automotive industry. The hybridization of carbon with natural fibres is one effective way to address these challenges while retaining the useful properties of both. In the current study the effect of hybridization configuration and ratio on the mechanical and damping performance of carbon-jute fibre hybrid SMCs has been investigated. The results show that hybrids with carbon core layers have a 4% higher tensile modulus and 14% higher strength than similar hybrids with jute core layers. This configuration also showed a 49% improvement in damping performance due to the higher energy dissipating capability of the surface jute fibre layers respectively. On the other hand, higher flexural modulus (38%) and strength (75%) properties were obtained when the stiffer and stronger carbon layers were used as external skin layers for the same hybrid contents. The effect of hybridization ratio on was studied by varying the thickness of the external carbon layers in the hybrids, where increasing tensile and bending properties were observed for increasing carbon content in the hybrids, while no significant reduction in damping performance was seen. Finally, the Cost-Performance Ratios (CPRs) have been used to evaluate the hybrids against their carbon and jute benchmarks.