Prediction of mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of wool/glass fiber based hybrid composites

Abstract

The mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of wool and glass fiber-reinforced epoxy-based hybrid composites were investigated experimentally. Three different types of the composite material were manufactured. The first type was plain woven glass fiber reinforced epoxy with 50% volume fraction. The second type consisted of natural fiber (Wool) reinforced epoxy with 50% volume fraction. The third type was hybrid natural wool and plain woven glass fiber reinforced epoxy with 50% volume fraction (25% fiber + 25% wool). The results showed that the hybrid composite specimens have higher values of the tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and flexural strength compared with the wool specimens, while these values are less than that for glass fiber specimens. The values of the thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity are arranged in an ascending order as follows: wool/epoxy, wool-glass/epoxy, and glass/epoxy composites.