ISSN: 1304-7191 | E-ISSN: 1304-7205
Design and testing of flax-sisal-epoxy hybrid composites reinforced with glass fiber for automotive bumper beams
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering, Pune, India
Sigma J Eng Nat Sci - DOI: 10.14744/sigma.2025.1952

Abstract

The usage of natural fibers dates back to the very start of civilization. Because of rising consumer demand for environmentally friendly products and technological advancements, natural fibers are increasingly used in the aerospace, automotive, marine, and other industries. This work summarizes to check the feasibility of Flax-epoxy and Sisal-epoxy composites and their hybrids with Glass fiber as an alternative material for automotive bumper beams with the objective of weight reduction and a significant amount of beam strength. Vacuum-assisted hand layup is used to prepare specimens and then tested in flexural, tensile, and impact tests. Based on the test results and material study, it was concluded that Sisal and Flax, together with E-glass Fiber give better results. A static simulation using Ansys was performed on eight configurations to determine the best stacking sequence. The Stacking sequence selected (from Top to Bottom) is 3plies of Glass fiber, 2plies of Sisal fiber, 4plies of Flax Fiber, 2plies of Sisal fiber, and 3plies of Glass fiber, which resulted in high strength and significant energy absorption capacity in the bumper beam.