Mechanical Properties of Hybrid Composites with Date Palm Fibre Reinforcement

Plant-based fibres are commonly used as reinforcements in polymer composites for applications such as packaging, construction, automotive, and decorative household items. This process will reduce the cost of production along with eliminating solid wastes. Here, composite materials were prepared using epoxy resin as the matrix and date palm fibres, polyester, and carbon fibre mats as the reinforcement. The date palm fibres were pre-treated in a 10% alkali solution before use. Composites laminates were prepared using vacuum moulding technique. As these composites are intended to use for structural applications, it is necessary to study the tensile and flexural strength of the prepared composites. The effects of the date palm fiber with polyester and carbon fiber materials on the mechanical properties were determined. Along with The mechanical properties, the morphology of the fibre-matrix interface after fracture was evaluated. It was realized that the composites materials fails due to fiberpullout and debonding. It was also found that natural fibers are hydrophilic in nature, which causes delamination. These results were supported by scanning electron micrographs taken of the fracture surfaces. The hybrid composite containing date palm fibres and the polyester mat showed the highest ultimate tensile strength of 43.41 MPa, which was attributed to enhanced fibre-matrix adhesion due to the alkali pre-treatment. The results indicated that when the date palm fiber were added along with polyester mat, the tensile and bending strength were incresed. whereas both the strength uneffected when datepalmfiber added along with hybrid combination of carbon and polyester mat.