Experimental Studies on the performances of Hybrid- Natural Fiber / Powder Strengthened Polymer Composite Structure

This research paper affords the practical investigation of the fabrication of eco based composites. The banana fiber is used as primary and powdered coconut shell is utilized as secondary reinforcements with epoxy resin to structure hybrid composite samples. The fiber weight proportion was kept as constant and the powder weight proportion was varied with five different proportions. Composite laminates were fabricated by hand lay-up method followed by compression moulding process. The manufactured composites had been examined as per the standards of ASTM to estimate the mechanical behaviors such as flexural , tensile, shear and impact strengths. Also the effect of water immersion on the mechanical properties are evaluated in each manufactured sample. The results of the tests show that under mechanical loads, the hybrid composite with coconut shell powder outperforms the unfilled fiber reinforced composite.