Tensile, compressive, and fracture behavior of Habeshian chopped banana/epoxy core sandwich woven banana composite

A significant agricultural biomass with the intrinsic potential for lingo-cellulosic fiber is eliminated as garbage after harvesting in underdeveloped countries. The effective use of these natural fibers is one strategy to ensure a sustainable economy and reduce environmental pollution caused by synthetic fibers. The present work focuses on fabricating a core with uniformly dispersed Habeshian short banana fiber sandwiched between woven banana fiber composites. Epoxy core were fabricated by varying amount of short banana fiber (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 wt.%) and fixed woven banana fiber content (40 wt.%). Composites were prepared by hand layup technique. The work aims to enhance the overall performance of composites by leveraging the specific properties of Habeshian short banana fibers, to tailor the properties of the composite material to suit specific application requirements. The tensile and compressive properties enhance with increase in the short banana fiber content in core indicating beneficial advantages of reinforcing banana fibers to improve the compressive properties. Fracture toughness of composite also increase with increase in the chopped banana fiber content. The increase in the core wt.% has conveyed an enhancement in properties of composites till 10 wt.%. The structure and attributes of test specimens were correlated using scanning electron micrographs. The work can be extended for higher percentages of core, thus realizing enhancement in properties related to mechanical and chemical.