Mechanical and Tribological Behaviors of Chopped Carbon/Glass Fiber Reinforced Hybrid Epoxy Composites

Abstract

This study aims to examine the mechanical and tribological behaviors of short glass fibers (SGFs) and short carbon fibers (SCFs) reinforced single-layer hybrid epoxy composites. Here, the hybrid composites reinforced SGFs and SCFs in two different ratios (5 wt.% and 10 wt.%) were produced by the hand layup method. In addition, only glass or carbon fiber reinforced composites were produced in the same proportions to compare with hybrid composites. To investigate the flexural bending strength of composites (E5GF, E10GF, E5CF, and E10CF) and hybrid composites (E5GCF and E10GCF), 3-point bending tests were conducted. Izod impact tests were performed to analyze the impact energy absorbing behaviors of specimens. The wear performance of samples was assessed by using 10 and 20N loads. Moreover, the morphology of broken and worn surfaces of samples was analyzed by a scanning electron microscope. According to test results, E10GCF hybrid composites had nearly 27.36% and 29.67% better flexural strength and impact energy-absorbing compared to (E10GF) glass fiber reinforced composites, respectively. However, only 10 wt.% carbon-reinforced composites showed the highest wear resistance and smooth worn surface among all the samples. Therefore, for structural applications, hybrid epoxy composites can be the favorite but for tribological purposes reinforcing epoxy with only carbon fiber should be advantageous.