Mechanical properties of randomly oriented snake grass fiber with banana and coir fiber-reinforced hybrid composites

Abstract

Composite materials are extensively used in the structural applications due to its enhanced load-bearing capabilities. Mostly, the mechanical properties of the natural fiber-reinforced hybrid composites are better than the single fiber-reinforced composites and almost equal to the synthetic fiber composites. This paper presents the extraction and preparation methodology of the isophtallic polyester composites using the naturally available fibers like snake grass, banana and coir fibers. The tensile and flexural properties of the snake grass fiber-reinforced composites are compared with the snake grass/banana and snake grass/coir fiber-reinforced hybrid composites. The stress–strain curves of the snake grass, snake grass/banana and snake grass/coir fiber composites and the fiber pull-outs in the fractured specimen are analyzed for the higher and lower mechanical properties. The result shows that the snake grass/banana and snake grass/coir fiber composites have the maximum tensile and flexural properties when compared with the snake grass fiber composites.