Pigment & Resin Technology

Preparation and characterisation of glass and cotton fibers reinforced epoxy hybrid composites
Giridharan R., Jenarthanan M.P.,
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Giridharan R., Jenarthanan M.P., (2019) "Preparation and characterisation of glass and cotton fibers reinforced epoxy hybrid
composites", Pigment & Resin Technology, https://doi.org/10.1108/PRT-05-2018-0044
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 Preparation and characterisation of glass and
cotton fibers reinforced epoxy
hybrid composites
Giridharan R. and Jenarthanan M.P.
School of Mechanical Engineering, SASTRA Deemed to be University, Thanjavur, India

Abstract
Purpose – Natural fiber composites have been proven an alternative to conventional composites in many applications such as automotive and
transportation industries owing to their eco-friendliness and abundant availability. Also, they are recyclable and biodegradable. Therefore, the need
for composites having superior performance is increasing consistently, which has prompted the research reported in this paper. This paper aims to
fabricate and evaluate the properties of hybrid composites using glass and cotton fiber with epoxy resin.
Design/methodology/approach – They were prepared by hand lay-up method, using e-glass and cotton fibers. Epoxy resin used in the preparation
of composites. The composites were hybridized at two weight percentages (20 and 30 Wt.%). The prepared samples were tested to evaluate its
properties, such as tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength and scanning electron microscope .
Findings – Microscopic examination revealed the morphological features. Hybrid fiber reinforced epoxy composite (HFREC) exhibited better
mechanical properties than the individual samples. It is clear that 30 Wt.% fraction of fiber is better in mechanical properties than 20 Wt.% fraction
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of fiber reinforcement in both glass fiber and cotton fiber as reinforcement. Also, the hybridization of fibers resulted in increase in properties.
Research limitations/implications – As cotton fibers are biodegradable, recyclable and lightweight, it has many applications and is mainly used as
automotive components, aerospace parts, sporting goods and building industry when reinforced with glass and epoxy. With this scenario, the
obtained results of cotton fiber reinforced composites are not ignorable, which could be of potential use, as it leads to better use of available natural
fibers.
Originality/value – This work discovered the properties of e-glass and cotton fiber reinforced epoxy resin hybrid composites (hybridized at different
weight percentages), which has not been attempted so far.
Keywords Cotton, Epoxy, Fiber, Hybridization
Paper type Technical paper

Introduction epoxy composites, flexural and tensile strength increased with

Over the past few decades, natural fiber reinforced composites
have been dominating the field of engineering. Many researchers
have done a lot of work in natural fiber composites, trying to
increase their mechanical performance, especially to make them
suitable for day-to-day applications. In this context, cotton fiber
reinforced composites have gained importance, as cotton fibers
are easily available and can be reinforced in thermosets and
thermoplastics. Some of the important mechanical properties of
cotton fiber are elastic recovery, strength of the fiber, breaking
extension of fiber in dry, moisture regain, resistance to heat
degradation and tensile strength of the fiber. This literature
review of cotton fibers paraphrases the work carried out by
various researchers. The cotton fiber reinforced polymer
composites (CFRPC) have been widely used in structural
applications such as roof decor, automobile inner panels and
outer bodies of home appliances. Devendra and Rangaswamy
(2012) found that in randomly oriented e-glass fiber reinforced
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increase in weight fraction of the fiber. Lin et al. (2012) prepared
composites consisting of polypropylene (PP) and cotton stalk
filament by hot pressing and studied the effects of PP content and
compressing temperature on the mechanical properties. The
results showed that at elevated temperatures, all fibers are stiffer
and stronger than that at lower temperatures. Also, addition of
PP content improved the intensity and adhesion of composites.
Korniejenko et al. (2016) described the mechanical properties of
the geopolymer based on fly ash and reinforced with short natural
fibers such as cotton, sisal, raffia and coconut. They analyzed
the influence of addition of various natural fibers on the
mechanical properties of the geopolymer. Rohan et al. (2017)
fabricated composites using biodegradable polylactic acid
matrix reinforced with 10-30 Wt.% of cotton burr and stem
fibers from CGW by compression molding technique and
carried out the flexural test, whose results showed that the
flexural modulus increased by 42 per cent with the addition of
30 Wt.% of CGW. Alomayri et al. (2013) synthesized cotton
fiber-reinforced geopolymer composites and characterized their
mechanical properties. They investigated the effects of cotton
fiber content (0-1.0 Wt.%) and fiber dispersion on the

Pigment & Resin Technology Received 6 May 2018

© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 0369-9420] Revised 24 July 2018
[DOI 10.1108/PRT-05-2018-0044] Accepted 27 August 2018
 Evaluation of glass/cotton fibers Pigment & Resin Technology
Giridharan R. and Jenarthanan M.P.

mechanical characteristics of geopolymer composites and found Figure 2 Cotton fibers

that optimum mechanical properties were achieved at 0.5 Wt.%
fiber content. Prafull Sharma et al. (2017) prepared epoxy-based
polymer composites using 80 per cent weight compositions of
cotton fibers as reinforcement. They conducted tensile test,
impact and three-point bending tests to determine their
mechanical properties and found that the CFRCs have promising
tensile, impact and flexural strength for engineering applications.
Ioannis and Raftoyiannis (2012) developed composite panels
reinforced with cotton fibers and examined the mechanical
properties and found that the structural performance of cotton
fiber composites is satisfactory for structural parts with low
requirements, such as wall panels or doors. Alomayri and Low
(2013) introduced short cotton fibers into geopolymer matrix
and found that the short fibers improved the physical and
mechanical properties of the geopolymer. Sabinesh et al. (2014)
fabricated the mixed chopped cotton fiber reinforced composite
using isophthalic polyester resin by hand lay-up process and
investigated the tensile and flexural properties of the composites.
Their results showed that the tensile and flexural properties of The comparison of properties of fibers is listed in Table I. The
composite are significantly improved with the various fiber schematic diagram of hand lay-up process is shown in Figure 3.
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volume fractions. With an increase in the fiber volume fraction, it
is found that the tensile strength increases. Holt et al. (2014)
conducted experiments on composite boards made from
agricultural residues and found that CGW could beused as a
potential natural fiber for polymers.
In this paper, experimental investigations to improve
properties of cotton fiber reinforced composites have been
carried out. This paper reports the fabrication of hybrid
composites with different weight fractions of reinforcement and
with different weight percentages of different fibers. Different
tests to evaluate the mechanical properties of hybrid fiber
reinforced epoxy composite (HFREC) were conducted
according to ASTM standards.
Materials and methods
The composites were prepared by hand lay-up process. Epoxy
resin of grade AW106 was used. The glass fibers (Figure 1) were
used as synthetic reinforcement as plain weave mat fabrics of
0.3 mm and cotton fibers as natural reinforcement (Figure 2).
First, a layer of resin is applied, followed by keeping fibers in the
required orientation and the resin is reapplied before finally
being molded.
Preparation of specimens
The test components are fabricated separately and cut
according to the dimensions of ASTM D standards, as shown
in Table II.
Testing of composites
Tensile testing
The tensile test composite specimens are made as per the
ASTM D638M, as shown in Figure 4. The test was carried out
using an universal testing machine (Figure 5). Composite
specimens were placed in the grips, wherein the fibers were
pulled at a speed of 5 mm/min until failure occurred. The
displacement was noted.

Figure 1 Glass fibers Table I Physical properties of materials used

Cotton fiber E-glass fiber
Density (g/cm3) 1.5 2.5
E-modulus (GPa) 12 73
Tensile strength (MPa) 400 2,400

Figure 3 Schematic diagram of hand lay-up method

 Evaluation of glass/cotton fibers Pigment & Resin Technology
Giridharan R. and Jenarthanan M.P.

Table II Standard dimensions of test specimens

Sample Study Specimen type and ASTM standard Length (mm) Width (mm) Thickness (mm)
1 Tensile test D638M 165 10 3
2 Flexural test D790 127 12 4
3 Impact test D256 63 12.7 3

Figure 4 Schematic diagram of tensile test specimen Flexural testing

Flexural strength of a material is defined as its ability to resist
deformation under load. The flexural testing was carried out on
an universal testing machine as per ASTM D790, and the
dimensions of flexural test specimen standard is shown in
Figure 6. The three-point bending testing is done by placing
the specimen horizontally on two supports and applying load at
the center. The deflection was measured.
Figure 5 Universal testing machine

Figure 7 Impact testing machine

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Figure 6 Schematic diagram of flexural test specimen

 Evaluation of glass/cotton fibers Pigment & Resin Technology
Giridharan R. and Jenarthanan M.P.

Impact testing Figure 10 Comparison of flexural strength of FRP at 20-30 Wt.%

Impact strength is the resistance of a material (as metal or fraction of reinforcement
ceramic ware) to fracture by a blow. The test specimen whose
80
dimension as per ASTM D256 standard, as shown in Figure 8,
was placed on a impact testing machine (Figure 7) in vertical 70

position (Charpy test) with and hammer was released to make 60

Flexural stress (M Pa)

impact with the specimen. 50

40
Results and discussions 30
The results of various tests such as tensile strength, flexural 20
strength and impact strength are reported here.
10

0
Tensile testing Reinforcement
Experimental results of tensile testing of different composites
20% CFREC 20% GFREC 20% HFREC 30% CFREC 30% GFREC 30% HFREC
with different weight fractions of reinforcements are shown in
Figure 9. HFRECs show increased tensile strength values
compared to CFREC and GFREC because of higher interfacial Impact testing
strength with the matrix. The results show that 30 per cent Figure 11 shows the comparison of impact strength of CFREC,
hybridization of produces greater tensile strength. GFREC and HFREC. They reveal that HFREC has the
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highest impact strength compared to CFREC and GFREC.

Flexural testing
From the experimental results of composites, the flexural
strength values (with varying weight fractions of reinforcement)
are shown in Figure 10. The results show that 30 per cent
hybridization of FRP shows the highest flexural strength value
of HFREC, with the cotton fibers being 10 per cent and glass
fibers being 20 per cent. It is evident that the flexural strength
value of HFREC is higher than GFREC and CFREC. The
reason for increase in flexural strength of GFREC is because of
the fact that glass fiber could take more bending loads
compared to cotton fibers. Also, HFREC has higher flexural
strength compared to glass fibers.
Figure 8 Schematic diagram of impact test specimen
The notable point is that maximum impact strength is achieved
when cotton and glass fibers are reinforced at 1:1.
Microstructural study
The strength and stiffness of the composites depends on fiber
length and the bonding between fiber and matrix, which can be
seen by a microstructural examination of the fracture surface of
the composites. The SEM image of fractured HFRECs is shown
in Figure 12. Short fractured fibers projecting out of the matrix
are present, which in general indicates there was no pullout
failure. Therefore, a good adhesion between fiber and matrix is
possible for cotton fiber just by removing the fiber impurities.
The high interfacial strength is because of adhesion of fibers and
the resin. Because of high interfacial strength of cotton fiber with
epoxy matrix and glass, the fiber’s ability to withstand impact
loading will increase, leading to increased impact strength of
HFREC.

Conclusion
From the experimental results, it is seen that the hybridization of
FRP results in increased values of properties compared to
CFREC and GFREC. When a small weight percentage of cotton

Figure 9 Comparison of tensile strength of CFREC, GFREC and HFREC Figure 11 Comparison of impact strength of CFREC, GFREC and
at 20 and 30 Wt.% fraction of reinforcement HFREC at 20-30 Wt.% fraction of reinforcement
200
100
Impact Strength (J/m2)

180
90
Tensile Strength(M Pa)

160
80 140
70 120
60 100
80
50
60
40
40
30 20
20 0
10 1
0
Reinforcement Reinforcement

20% CFREC 20% GFREC 20% HFREC 30% CFREC 30% GFREC 30% HFREC 20% CFREC 20% GFREC 20% HFREC 30% CFREC 30% GFREC 30% HFREC
 Evaluation of glass/cotton fibers
Giridharan R. and Jenarthanan M.P.
Figure 12 SEM image of fractured surface of HFRE composites
fiber is added to GFREC, the properties increase to a greater
extent. The hybridization has not only reduced the cost but also
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made it an eco-friendly composite. Further research may be
carried out to improve their impact strength and hardness, such
as addition of carbon, heat treatment or electric treatment. Also,
new ways of increasing the fiber–matrix adhesion, which would
increase the net strength of composites, should be brought out.
Cotton fiber composites are widely used in structural applications
such as building and construction. Besides this, they are also used
in automotive parts, home appliances and electrical housing.
References
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characterization of mechanical properties in cotton fiber-
reinforced geopolymer composites”, Journal of Asian Ceramic
Societies, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 30-34.
Alomayri, T., Shaikh, F.U.A. and Low, I.M. (2013), “Thermal
and mechanical properties of cotton fabric-reinforced
geopolymer composites”, Journal of Materials Science, Vol. 48
No. 19, pp. 6746-6752.
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Pigment & Resin Technology
Devendra, K. and Rangaswamy, T. (2012), “Evaluation of
thermal properties of E-glass/epoxy composites filled by
different filler materials”, International Journal of
Computational Engineering Research, Vol. 2 No. 5, available
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pp. 1-5.
Corresponding author
Giridharan R. can be contacted at: giridharan54@gmail.
com