Abstract

---

Biomass fibres obtained from agricultural wastes have found application in the production of structural reinforcement for bio-composites used for manufacturing engineering components because of their low cost, biodegradable and eco-friendly advantages. The effects of hybridization on the mechanical properties of bagasse/sisal/coir reinforced epoxy hybrid composites have been studied. Bagasse has gained applications in paper making and as a biofuel in industries especially in Egypt, India and Cuba. However, its potentials have not been fully utilized as engineering materials due to its moderate strength. This work is therefore aimed at tailoring its properties through hybridization with other supporting natural fibres for better performance and applications. Hybridization was found to increase both the tensile strength and flexural modulus of the composites in the order: Bagasse/Epoxy < Bagasse/Coir/Epoxy < Bagasse/Sisal/Epoxy < Bagasse/Sisal/Coir/Epoxy. The tensile strength of the three-fibre/matrix hybrid system of Bagasse/Sisal/Coir reinforced epoxy composites was 53.25 MPa, showing an improvement of 70.1 % over the pure Bagasse/Epoxy composite. However, when blended with sisal and coir, the tensile strength value was raised to 43.6 MPa with the composition of 60%B/40%S having an improvement of 39.3% over the pure Bagasse/Epoxy composite while that of 60%B/40%C registered a strength value of 40.6 MPa. On the other hand, the hardness of the composites decreased with the hybridization of the fibres. The hardness strength value for the hybrid composites showed that as the sisal component increased from 40 % to 60 %, the composition with 50 %B/50 %C showed the highest numerical strength of 8.87 RHF followed by 60 %B/40 %C having 8.63 RHF. As fibre loading increases, the rate of water absorption increases and the rate of water absorption is higher for the hybridized composite than for the unhybridized composite system. The specific water absorption value of the hybrid composite is as follows 60 wt%B40%S < 40 %B60 %C <60 %B/10 %S/30 %C having absorption rate of 6.5 %, 7 % and 10.8 % respectively

Keywords: Natural Fibre, Bagasse, Sisal, Coir, Epoxy resin, Hybridization