Effect of Resin on Mechanical and Wear Performance of Wire Mesh-Reinforced Hydrophilic Fiber Composite

Abstract

Natural fibers become one of the inevitable materials in engineering applications, and they gain popularity among engineers, researchers, and scientists due to their remarkable properties. This paper reveals the performance of stainless steel (SS) wire mesh-reinforced hydrophilic fiber with epoxy (LY556) and vinyl ester resin. Eight different types (H1 to H4 and F1 to F4) of hybrid composites were fabricated with hemp and flax fiber using hand layup technique. The fabricated hybrid composite performances were deliberated through different characterizations such as tensile, hardness, flexural, wear, impact, water absorption and oil absorption as per ASTM standards. The tensile test results depict that hemp/epoxy composite (H2) with wire mesh reinforcement shows 23.4% higher strength than H1 composite; likewise, hemp/vinyl ester composite H4 shows 13.7% higher strength than H3 composite. The flexural strength of the F2 composite has been found to be 11.9% higher than the F1 composite; similarly, composite F4 shows 32.1% higher strength than the F3 composite. The water absorption test clearly indicates that the composites with wire mesh (H2, H4, F2, and F4) absorbs a minimum percentage (29.5% to 31.8%) of water than the composite without wire mesh. The wear analysis shows that the H2 composite requires minimum frictional force (21.6%) than H3 composite. The obtained SEM image confirms the cup and cone fracture of wire mesh, brittle fracture of the matrix, and no evidence of debonding between matrix and wire mesh in the composites.