Mechanical Properties and Water Absorption of Ramie-Glass fibre-based Hybrid Composite

Abstract

Combining natural fiber and fiberglass as a hybrid composite is promising to reduce the utilization of synthetic (glass) fiber, which is costly in the manufacturing process. Ramie (R) fiber is abundant in Indonesia and has the potential to substitute fiberglass (F) as reinforcement material. However, both materials have distinct fundamental mechanical properties. This study aimed to produce ramie and fiberglass composite and then investigate the mechanical properties (tensile, flexural, impact) and water absorption. Hybrid composites with five stacking layers were produced using the hand lay-up method with the variation of layer orientation. The result showed that the F-R-F-R-F layer and 90°/60° orientation present the highest tensile strength accounting for 60.92 MPa while the highest modulus elasticity was the F-R-F-R-F layer with 45°/90°, 3064 MPa. The flexural test shows that the F-R-F-R-F composite layer 45°/90° provides the highest flexural strength with a strength value of 177.51 MPa. The impact test also showed the highest value in the F-R-F-R-F layer with 45°/90° specimen, with an impact energy of 2.95 J/mm2. In addition, the water absorption achieved the lowest by F-R-F-R-F layer with 90°/60° with 0,48%.