Fabrication and characteristics of hybrid glass fiber/Prosopis Juliflora reinforced epoxy composite

Abstract A wide range of favorable properties like high strength to weight ratio, low cost and durability is leading to a wide range of applications for Polymer Composite such as aviation, automobile, defense and marine. The focus of this paper is to improve the strength of the Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic with the help of Prosopis Juliflora (A plant known as Seemai Karuvelam in Tamil) reduced into powder form. The work done in the project is an attempt to fabricate a hybrid composite using bi-directional Glass Fiber sheet with the Prosopis Juliflora powder of different weight percentage 0% 3%, 6% and 9% impregnated along with the matrix in between the sheets by hand layup technique. The fabricated composites are cut according to ASTM standards in order to determine the mechanical properties such as tensile strength, compressive strength and Impact strength. The hybrid composite with 6% Prosopis Juliflora is found to have superior mechanical properties as compared to glass fiber reinforced composite. The hybrid composite with 6% Prosopis Juliflora is then subjected to hardness and chemical test and compared with Glass fiber reinforced composite.