Abstract
The investigation evaluates the mechanical and thermal properties of glass fiber reinforced epoxy hybrid composites incorporated with mahogany and teak sawdust powder (TSP and MSP). For the development of hybrid sandwich composites, a manual lay-up method was used with numerous amounts of filler. It employed tensile, flexural, and impact tests to look at mechanical properties and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to analyze at thermal behavior and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed to explore microstructural characteristics. The experimental results indicated that filler dispersion and interfacial bonding significantly influenced the properties of the composite. Sample 4 had the overall best performance of the developed samples. It had a tensile strength of 12.5 N/mm2, a flexural strength of 48 N/mm2, and an impact strength of 5.7 J/m. It indicated that it was more effective in carrying loads and upholding structural integrity. TGA analysis revealed that Sample 4 had multi-stage thermal deterioration and DSC data, on the various aspects, indicated that Sample 4 carried improved thermal stability with less enthalpy change. In addition, samples were investigated at how the epoxy/sawdust/glass fiber composites absorbed water. The hybrid fillers absorbed a moderate amount of water (2%–6%), and Sample 4 absorbed the least because the filler-matrix bonding proved more effective and the void content were reduced. These results imply that teak–mahogany hybrid fillers can significantly improve the mechanical and thermal properties of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites for lightweight semi-structural applications.
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