Experimental investigation for the dynamic characteristics of short natural fiber reinforced composite materials

The study of mechanical and dynamic characteristics of composite materials is important. Vibration is one of the major problems faced because of the uncertainty and the disturbances due to its surroundings. For composite being used in the structures like aircraft, automobiles, railway coaches and buildings it should have sound mechanical and dynamic characteristics. Many researchers have been interested in the natural fiber based composite materials for solving problems such as environmental sustainability while also having good mechanical properties. In this paper, our objective is to explore the use of the short fiber and studied the dynamic and mechanical characteristics of banana-epoxy; kenaf-epoxy and hemp-epoxy natural fiber reinforced composite materials. The use of short fibers in the composites makes it easy to process and thus reduces the production cost when compared to composites which are made from long fiber mat. All composites which are fabricated have shown enhancement in the mechanical strength when the fiber loading in the composite is increased. It is concluded that the composite samples prepared from kenaf, banana and hemp shows better damping characteristics when compares to the neat epoxy material. It is also found that the hemp fiber based composite has shown the highest tensile strength and kenaf fiber based composite has shown the highest damping properties.