Mechanical and morphological analysis of natural fiber-reinforced epoxy and polyester hybrid composites

• Natural fiber-reinforced hybrid composites with epoxy and polyester resins analyzed. • GCSEC showed superior mechanical properties compared to GCSPC. • SEM and FTIR used to characterize morphology and composition of composites. • Polyester resin composite offers a low-cost alternative with satisfactory performance. Utilization of natural fibers in composite materials is a necessity of time due to the rise of user consciousness for lowering the level of environmental pollution. This study presents the comparative analysis of two distinct composites prepared by hand layup method using natural mats (coir fiber, and sugarcane bagasse), and nonwoven glass fiber sheets as reinforcements. The first composite was made with epoxy resin and the second one was made with polyester resin along with the above reinforcements. The composition of the composites and their morphology of tensile fracture were characterized by FTIR and SEM respectively. To compare the mechanical properties of the composites, their tensile, bending, and impact strengths were determined. The tensile strength, flexural rigidity, and impact strength of the glass sheet/ coir fiber/ sugarcane bagasse/ epoxy resin composite (GCSEC) were 59.5 MPa, 110.56 MPa, and 40.85 J respectively, whereas, the values were 35.9 MPa, 52.38 MPa, and 32.83 J respectively for the glass sheet/ coir fiber/ sugarcane bagasse/ polyester resin composite (GCSPC). The price of polyester resin is significantly low in comparison with that of epoxy resin. The overall performance of epoxy resin-composite was better; however, the performance of polyester resin-composite was satisfactory as it offered a low-cost hybrid composite.