Performance analysis on mechanical/morphological properties of ramie-kenaf hybrid polymer composites

The Utilization of natural fibers for various polymeric applications in increasing owing to its cost effectiveness and versatile applications. In this work four different Tri layer hybrid composites were developed by using hand lay up by varying the kenaf and ramie fibers in different stacking sequences. Fourdifferent hybrid composites with K1-Kenaf/Ramie/Kenaf (KE/RA/KE) K2-Ramie/Kenaf/Ramie (RA/KE/RA) K3-Kenaf-Kenaf-Kenaf (KE/KE/KE), K-4 Ramie-Ramie-Ramie(RA/RA/RA) were investigated. Tensile, Flexural, Impact and Shore-d Hardness were investigated. Outcome of the results depicted that the tensile, flexural and hardness studies possessed similar results. The Composites with ramie fiber at skin layer and kenaf as core material posseseed good tensile, flexural and hardness properties, Similarly the kenaf at outer layer and ramie as a core had better impact strength. The outcome reveals that the composites can be used as an alternative in structural and automobile applications.SEM(Scanning ElectronicMicrscopy) was done to observe fracture surfaces, Fiber pull out and void formation.