Tensile Properties characterization of Glass and Jute Fabric-based Hybrid Composites and Applications in Engineering

Abstract Composites have an exceptional prospective to replace traditional metals like steel and aluminium by offering low weight, high strength, excellent damping characteristics and outstanding performance at elevated temperatures. Jute composites are emerging significantly and are being used in the formation of green composites materials. In this study, glass-jute hybrid composites, prepared through hand layup techniques, were used with different layers of glass and jute fiber. The tensile test carried out on these composite materials was according to ASTM D3039 standard. The experimental results stipulate that the tensile properties of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) were not affected by the mixing of jute fiber in it. Also, the strength of single layer jute fabric with glass layers and GFRP composites was found out to be almost the same. Furthermore, the hybridization of jute fiber with glass fiber could improve its tensile properties. In addition to this, a numerical simulation using ABAQUS was performed, and an error of nearly 4% was found between the results obtained using numerical and experimental approaches. The error may have been resulted due to the non -uniformity in diameter of jute fiber. Moreover, to find the interfacial strength of the material, Fractography was performed on OLYMPUS Microscope. The results obtained from this analysis indicates that more pull out of jute fabric in high jute weight percentage composites is the leading cause of its lower tensile strength. The benefits of hybrid composites could be seen in many engineering and structural applications including skateboard, hockey and automobile’s interior and exterior parts.