Investigation of Tensile and Flexural Behavior of Green Composites along with their Impact Response at Different Energies

Green composites can reduce the use of synthetic fibers in many applications. The motivation behind the fabrication of green composites is their excellent biodegradability and recyclability. However, fundamental issues related to green composites are their inferior mechanical properties and the reinforcement’s hydrophilic nature. This paper presents the hand layup technique to produce green composites containing different ratios of synthetic fiber (E-glass) and natural fiber (Jute). The mechanical properties were characterized as per ASTM standards. The impact strength was also investigated for different impact energies. In addition to this, the numerical simulations using ABAQUS were performed. The experimental results for tensile and flexural results were compared and validated with finite element analysis (FEA) results. An error of nearly 4% was observed between the numerical and experimental results. The microscopic analysis of fractured tensile specimens indicated that more pull out of jute fabric in high jute weight percentage composites was the leading cause of its lower tensile strength.