Investigating mechanical properties of composites reinforced with jute/cotton natural fibers in hybridized epoxy/vinylester and epoxy/polyester resins

Abstract This study explores the hybrid effect of environmental friendly jute and cotton fabrics as reinforcement in a multiresin based composite system. Two hybrid resins (containing epoxy/vinylester and epoxy/polyester) were reinforced with hybrid jute and cotton fabrics, which makes it a multihybrid composite material. Effect of hybridization and varying the content of fibers (10, 20, and 15 wt%) was analyzed by employing tensile, bending, and charpy impact tests of the composites. The fractured surfaces after tensile testing were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) whereas the bonding structure of multiresin and the interaction of reinforcement with the resins were scrutinized through Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that higher content of cotton fiber has a superior impact on mechanical properties as compared with jute fiber, this is because of the higher cellulose content found in the cotton fiber. Moreover, in terms of resins, epoxy/vinylester hybrid resin proved to be dominant in enhancing mechanical properties compared with epoxy/polyester resin. For reference, the tensile strength of cotton/jute/epoxy/vinylester hybrid composite (61.12 MPa) was observed to be 11.71% higher than that of cotton/jute/epoxy/polyester (54.71 MPa). A similar behavior was observed in flexural and impact tests. The SEM analysis provided evidence that the composites mainly failed due to matrix failure rather than interfacial failure, which is a reason of enhancement in mechanical strength. Such newly developed materials are auspicious for high‐performance engineering applications in addition to environmental friendliness. Highlights Two hybrid resins were reinforced with hybrid jute/cotton natural fibers. IPN structure was formed in epoxy/polyester and epoxy/vinyl ester resins. The multi hybridization enhanced the mechanical properties of the composites. Cotton fiber exhibited more influence on the properties of the composites. Epoxy/vinylester has better fibril removal resistant than epoxy/polyester.