Influence of natural fibers on mechanical, thermal, water absorption and morphological characteristics of Kevlar Hybrid Epoxy composites for shipbuilding application

The present work investigated the influence of natural fibers in Kevlar-reinforced epoxy composite. In this research, four layers of Kevlar woven fiber are fabricated by hand layup technique. In each sample, three layers of natural filler are filled between the Kevlar fabric layer. Three samples are fabricated, and each sample is added either with eggshell powder, Banana Bract, Human hair, which is reinforced with epoxy resin 10:1 ratio. The characterization of mechanical and thermal behavior evaluated by tensile, flexural, thermal conductivity, heat deflection, and water absorption is analyzed by ASTM standards. Mechanical fractured surface and interfacial adhesion layer formation are analyzed in Scanning electron microscopy. The result shows that eggshell powder-filled Kevlar epoxy composite exhibits higher mechanical properties than the other two epoxy composite filled with either human hair or banana bract. Human hair-filled Kevlar composite had better mechanical properties than banana bract composite. The study of the morphological structure shows that Eggshells and human hair-filled composite have less water absorption, high heat resistance, low thermal conductivity. This fabricated composite can be utilized for ship fuel tank covers, valve covers, lining materials of marine constructions.