Natural fibers, as replacement of engineered fibers, have been one of the most researched topics over the past years. This is due to their inherent properties, such as biodegradability, renewability and their abundant availability when compared to synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers derived from finite resources (fossil fuels) and are thus, affected mainly by volatility oil prices and their accumulation in the environment and/or landfill sites as main drawbacks their mechanical properties and thermal properties surpass that of natural fibers. A combination of these fibers/fillers, as reinforcement of various polymeric materials, offers new opportunities to produce multifunctional materials and structures for advanced applications. This article intends to cover recent developments from 2013-up to date on hybrid composites, based on natural fibers with other fillers. Hybrid composites preparation and characterization towards their applicability in advanced applications and the current challenges are also presented.

Recent progress on natural fiber hybrid composites for advanced applications: A review

A review on the mechanical properties of hybrid fibers-reinforced polymer composite is presented in this article. Fiber-reinforced polymer composite has a lot of advantages such as high strength, low density, and ease of processing. Fiber-reinforced polymer composite has been used in many areas such as aerospace, automotive, and construction. Incorporation of two or more fibers into a single polymer matrix leads the development of hybrid composite. Hybridization can improve the mechanical properties of single fiber-reinforced polymer composite. This study shows that mechanical properties of natural fiber-reinforced polymer composite increase due to incorporation of comparably high elongation fibers.

Mechanical Properties of Hybrid Fibers-Reinforced Polymer Composite: A Review

In this study, composite plates were manufactured by hand lay-up process with epoxy matrix (DGEBA) reinforced with Kevlar fiber plain fabric and Kevlar/glass hybrid fabric, using to an innovative architecture. Results of the mechanical properties of composites were obtained by tensile, bending and impact tests. These tests were performed in the parallel direction or fill directions of the warp and in a 90° direction. FTIR was used in order to verify the minimum curing time of the resin to perform the mechanical tests, and scanning electron microscopy was used to observe reinforcement and matrix fractures. Composites with Kevlar/glass hybrid structure in the reinforcing fabric showed the better results with respect to specific mechanical strength, as well as bending and impact energy.

Evaluation of the mechanical behavior of epoxy composite reinforced with Kevlar plain fabric and glass/Kevlar hybrid fabric

Fibre-hybrid composites are composed of two or more fibre types in a matrix. Such composites offer more design freedom than non-hybrid composites. The aim is often to alleviate the drawbacks of one of the fibre types while keeping the benefits of the other. The hybridisation can also lead to synergetic effects or to properties that neither of the constituents possess. Even though fibre-hybrid composites are attractive, they also pose more challenges in terms of materials selection than conventional, single fibre type composites. This review analyses the mechanisms for synergetic effects provides guidance on the fibre and matrix selection and describes recent opportunities and trends. It finishes by describing the current applications, and by contrasting how the industrial use is different from the academic research.

Recent advances in fibre-hybrid composites: materials selection, opportunities and applications

Fabrication and Property Evaluation of Banana-Hemp-Glass Fiber Reinforced Composites

A micromechanical analysis of the representative volume element of a unidirectional hybrid composite is performed using finite element method. The fibers are assumed to be circular and packed in a hexagonal array. The effects of volume fractions of the two different fibers used and also their relative locations within the unit cell are studied. Analytical results are obtained for all the elastic constants. Modified Halpin–Tsai equations are proposed for predicting the transverse and shear moduli of hybrid composites. Variability in mechanical properties due to different locations of the two fibers for the same volume fractions was studied. It is found that the variability in elastic constants and longitudinal strength properties was negligible. However, there was significant variability in the transverse strength properties. The results for hybrid composites are compared with single fiber composites.

Sayan Banerjee

Papers

Mechanical properties of hybrid composites using finite element method based micromechanics