Flax and sugar palm reinforced epoxy composites: Effect of hybridization on physical, mechanical, morphological and dynamic mechanical properties

Present study deals with the fabrication of hybrid composites with the flax as skin and sugar palm fibre (SPF) as core and vice-versa by hot press moulding. Various properties of developed hybrid composites were compared with the properties of their respective individual fibre based composites. Results analysis revealed that tensile strength and flexural strength of the hybrid composites increased by nearly 3 folds and 2 folds respectively. The results from dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and short beam test revealed that the hybridization of flax into the SPF reinforced composites resulted in superior mechanical strength, dynamic mechanical properties and inter-laminar shear strength (ILSS). Morphological analysis indicated fibre pull-out, fibre breakage and brittle matrix failure for the composite specimens failed under tension. Overall, the results revealed that hybridization delivered profound effect on the mechanical strength, modulus, dynamic properties and damping factor.