Hybrid Carbon and Sisal fibers Reinforced Epoxy resin

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study the water absorption and mechanical properties of carbon and sisal fiber reinforced epoxy composites, with an assessment of the effect of weight ratio and fiber percentage. Adding fiber reinforcement to the epoxy enhances its mechanical properties. The (sisal/carbon) fibers (S/C) were arranged to prepare a hybrid composite at a 2 weight % (2S/0C, 1.5S/0.5C, 1S/1C, 0.5S/1.5C, 0S/2C) with 98% epoxy resin and a 4 weight % (4S/0C, 3S/1C, 2S/2C, 1S/3C, 0S/4C) with 96% epoxy resin. Molds were made of silicon rubber according to ASTM standards. The results show that using 4 weight percent of pure carbon fiber, the highest tensile, bending, maximum shear, and impact strength are (53.29 MPa, 136.9 MPa, 10.95 MPa, and 45.4 KPa), respectively, and the lowest percentage of elongation at break was obtained at 4 weight percent with 96% epoxy resin, and higher water absorption among the composite specimen reinforced at 4 weight percent of sisal fiber was found (0.388%) after 144 hours with 96% epoxy resin