Impact behaviors of natural fiber reinforced epoxy composites

Due to the increase in the use of natural fiber composites, knowing the impact properties and impact strength of these natural fiber composites will be beneficial in the industry. Therefore, in this study, the impact behaviors and damage mechanisms of the natural fibers reinforced epoxy composites are investigated experimentally. Eucalyptus, palm and birch natural fibers were used as reinforcement. By combining the molded pulp production system and the vacuum-assisted resin transfer system, first the molded natural fiber plates and then natural fiber reinforced composite plates were produced. The low velocity drop impact testing was performed on the natural fiber composite plates. By the increasing impact energies from 2.5 J to 3.0 J, it was possible to examine the impact responses and damage mechanisms until perforation of the natural fiber composites. It is seen that the indentation gets deeper and a net shear out (perforation) occurs at the front face of the composites, while bigger matrix cracks and fiber breakage can be seen at the back face of the composites. As compared with palm and birch fiber composite samples, it can be said that the impact performance of the eucalyptus fiber composite sample is the best.