Mechanical performance of oil palm empty fruit bunches/jute fibres reinforced epoxy hybrid composites

Oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB)/jute fibre reinforced epoxy hybrid composites with different sequence of fibre mat arrangement such as EFB/jute/EFB and jute/EFB/jute were fabricated by hand lay-up method. The effect of layering patterns on the mechanical performance of the composites was studied. The hybrid composites are intended for engineering applications as an alternative to synthetic fibre composites. Mechanical performance of hybrid composites were evaluated and compared with the pure EFB, pure jute composites and neat epoxy using flexural and impact testing. The flexural properties of hybrid composite is higher than that of pure EFB composite with respect to the weight fraction of fibre, where as the impact strength of pure EFB composite is much higher than those of hybrid composites. The flexural results were interpreted using sandwich theory. The fracture surface morphology of the impact testing samples of the hybrid composites was performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Research highlights▶ Hybrid composites constituents of natural fibres show good mechanical performances. ▶ Hybridization with 20% jute fibre gives rise to sufficient modulus to composites. ▶ Outer or core material affect mechanical performance of hybrid composites. ▶ Impact strength of pure EFB composite is higher than hybrid composites.