The effect of multiscale hybridization on the mechanical properties of natural fiber-reinforced composites

The main objective of this work was to investigate the effect of reinforcements at different scales on the mechanical properties of natural fiber-reinforced composites. Pure jute and interlaminar hybrid jute/glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites were fabricated. Different types of fillers in two weight fractions (1 and 3 wt. %) were used as second reinforcements in the hybrid jute/glass composites. Tensile, flexural, and impact tests were performed. It was found that the macroscale inter-play hybridization significantly improved the mechanical properties of the pure jute fiber based composites. When the fillers are used as second hybridization, the modified composites presented higher mechanical properties when compared to pure jute composites. However, the effect of fillers on the mechanical properties of the hybrid composites presented various trends due to the interaction between several factors (i.e., particle scale, content, and nature), which cannot always be separated. Increasing the synthetic filler content improved the tensile properties of the filled hybrid composites, while increasing the natural filler content worsen the tensile properties. The flexural strength of the multiscale hybrid composites was improved, while the impact properties were negatively affected.