Flexural Strength of Hybrid Mendong - C-glass/Epoxy Thermoseting Composites

Abstract

Hybrid composite materials are those composites which have a combination of two or more reinforcement fibre in order to better mechanical properties. This paper concerns with development of hybrid composite materials using mendong and C-glass as the reinforcement and epoxy bakellite EPR 174 resin as the matrix, using hand lamination process. The mendong fibre was treated with alkali (NaOH). Hybrid mendong - C-glass/epoxy composite specimens were arranged to make a unidirectional (0°), bidirectional (0°/90°) and bidirectional (? 45°) fibre orientations with a 50% v/v fibre fraction content. The specimens were then tested using flexural tests, and the results were analyzed using two parameters Weibull distribution. The result shows that the flexural strength of hybrid mendong - C-glass/epoxy composites with a unidirectional (0°) is higher than other fiber orientations.