PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF HYBRID GLASS AND SISAL FIBRE REINFORCED EPOXY MATRIX COMPOSITE FOR AIRCRAFT STRUCTURES

Aerospace industries globally have considered fibre composites as substitutes for structural applications. There is gross challenge to analyse and evaluate the performance of different fibre composites and their manufacturing processes to determine the most effective, efficient and sustainable material for aircraft structures. Therefore, in order to reduce drag in flight, the material for the structure is an important factor to consider in designing aircrafts. In this study, woven E-glass fibre/natural sisal fibre hybrid composite was developed and their mechanical properties, such as flexural strength, tensile strength and impact strength were evaluated. The flexural test results showed that hybrid composite samples (GF30SF5 and GF30SF10), each with an equal amount of glass fibre (30 wt%), exhibited high flexural strength (108.9 MPa and 124.6 MPa) and flexural modulus (2863 MPa and 2667.6 MPa) compared to the SF15 (41.3 MPa and 1771.8 MPa). For the tensile properties, GF30SF5 had the higher tensile strength (118.76 MPa) and Young’s modulus (565.5 MPa) compared to the SF15, while GF30SF10 had the best elongation at break (36%) among the composite samples. As for the impact properties, GF30SF10 had the highest impact energy (11.5 J) and maximum impact strength (0.18 J/mm2) compared to the GF30 and the SF15 samples. Overall, hybridization enhances mechanical properties, with glass fibre showing superior flexural and tensile characteristics. These findings have implications for the development of stronger and more reliable hybrid composites, especially in aircraft structures like wing components. Hybridization is an important replacement for synthetic materials in aerospace application due to their biodegradability, cost-effectiveness and recyclability making them useful in various applications.