Mechanical properties of unidirectional banana/snake plant fiber-reinforced epoxy hybrid composites: experimental and numerical analyses

This study investigates the mechanical properties of composites through the hybridization of banana and snake plant (SP) fibers with a unidirectional (UD) fiber arrangement. The UD preforms are made with various weight ratios of banana/SP fibers (100/0, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75, and 0/100) and then incorporated into the epoxy resin by the hand lay-up method to fabricate composites. Their mechanical properties (tensile, flexural, impact, and hardness), fracture morphologies, and water absorption are then evaluated. Numerical analysis of the mechanical properties of hybrid composites is also carried out. It is observed that with increasing SP fiber content, the mechanical properties of composites (tensile, flexural, impact, and hardness) tend to rise, and the water absorption of composites declines. The 25% banana/75% SP fiber composite exhibits the minimum water absorption of 11.29% after 120 h, with improved tensile modulus and strength of 1.79 GPa and 53.74 MPa, and flexural modulus and strength of 1.50 GPa and 130.86 MPa, respectively, and impact strength of 65.42 kJ/m2, among other hybrids, and maximum hardness (64.2 Shore D), among all UD composites. Additionally, the mechanical performance of the UD 100% SP fiber composite is found to be noteworthy. Finite element analysis shows that composites' tensile and flexural strengths are in excellent agreement with their experimental findings. Furthermore, fracture morphologies indicate that composites fail due to fiber pullout, fiber breakage, fiber-matrix debonding, and voids. This study provides some insights to promote the application of manufactured UD composites in the internal structures of automobiles, aircraft, and trains.