Processing, Characterization and Mechanical Behaviour of Coir/Glass Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Based Hybrid Composites

Abstract

Fiber reinforced polymer composites has been used in a variety of application because of their many advantages such as relatively low cost of production, easy to fabricate and superior strength compare to neat polymer resins. Reinforcement in polymer is either synthetic or natural. Synthetic fiber such as glass, carbon etc. has high specific strength but their fields of application are limited due to higher cost of production. Recently there is an increase interest in natural fiber based composites due to their many advantages. In this connection an investigation has been carried out to make better utilization of coconut coir fiber for making value added products. The objective of the present research work is to study the physical, mechanical and water absorption behavior of coir/glass fiber reinforced epoxy based hybrid composites. The effect of fiber loading and length on mechanical properties like tensile strength, flexural strength, hardness of composites is studied. A multi-criteria decision making approach called TOPSIS is also used to select the best alternative from a set of alternatives. Also, the surface morphology of fractured surfaces after tensile testing is examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).