Investigation of tensile and flexural properties of habesha moringa-bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy hybrid composite

In the present investigation, moringa oleifera and bamboo fibers extracted from Ethiopia are studied to understand their mechanical properties. Three types of woven composites namely moringa/epoxy, bamboo/epoxy and moringa/bamboo/epoxy (hybrid) are fabricated by maintaining 60 vol% fiber content. Additionally, neat epoxy samples are prepared for comparison. Tensile and flexural properties are investigated in terms of strength and modulus. Tensile test results depict brittle failure for all composites and infer increase in fracture strain of woven composites as compared with neat epoxy. Tensile modulus and strength of woven composites increase in the range of 19%-39% and 18%-281%, respectively as compared with neat ones. Flexural stress-strain profiles of neat epoxy, moringa/epoxy and moringa/bamboo/epoxy composites linear curves until failure indicating brittle mode while bamboo/epoxy composites shows non-linear stress-strain profiles revealing non-brittle mode of failure. Flexural properties exhibited by bamboo/epoxy and moringa/bamboo/epoxy reveal comparable properties to each other yet superior than moringa/epoxy and neat epoxy composites mainly attributed to the good bonding of constituents and compatibility. All the woven composites reveal an increase in flexural modulus and strength and are in the range of 31%-96% and 5.79%-51.12%, higher than the neat epoxy. Finally, fractured surfaces of specimens are analyzed using scanning electron microscope to understand the structure property correlations.