Enhance the Properties of Hybrid Fiber Composites with TiO₂ Nanoparticles

Composites are made with natural fibers and nanoparticles are added to them in the manufacturing process due to eco-friendliness and sustainability. By use of natural fibers will reduce the environmental impact and improve renewable resources. Pineapple leaf fiber and coir fiber are made as a hybrid composite added with titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and are examined in this research. Hybrid composites are made by implanting the fibers added with the 2% TiO2 nanoparticles into the resin matrix epoxy. The fibers used in this preparation process will be in the needed dimensions. To improve the hardness of the composite will undergo the curing and post curing processes. Tensile strength, flexural strength and XRD analysis are the tests done in this research to find the improvement of properties in the composite. Based on the tensile test, 50.6 MPa is the hybrid composite without TiO2 nanoparticles tensile strength and 63.4 MPa is the hybrid composite including TiO2 nanoparticles with higher tensile strength. From the flexural test, 68.7 MPa is the hybrid composite without TiO2 nanoparticles flexural strength and 82.3 MPa is the hybrid composite including TiO2 nanoparticles with higher flexural strength. From the XRD Analysis, the hybrid composite including TiO2 nanoparticles improved the crystallinity than the other hybrid composites. SEM analysis of hybrid composite including TiO2 nanoparticles shows better bonding between fibers and matrix. From the overall result, a hybrid composite including TiO2 nanoparticles has a higher strength than the pure fiber composite and hybrid composite without nanoparticles.