Abstract

A study has been carried out to investigate the tensile properties of composites made by reinforcing sisal,
coconut spathe and ridgegourd as the new natural fibers into epoxy resin matrix. The natural fibers extracted by
retting and manual processes were subjected to alkali treatment. The composites fabricated consist of
reinforcement in the hybrid combination like sisal-coconut spathe, sisal-ridge gourd and coconut spathe-ridge
gourd with the weight fraction of fibers varying from 5% to 30%. It has been observed that the tensile properties
increase with the increase in the weight fraction of fibers to certain extent and then decreases. The hybridization
of the reinforcement in the composite shows greater tensile strength when compared to individual type of
natural fibers reinforced. For all the composites tested the tensile strength of the composite increased for
approximately 25% of weight fraction of the fibers and further for the increase in the weight fraction of fiber the
strength decreased, also it is found that for the hybrid combination of ridge guard and sisal fibers there is 65%
increase in the tensile strength.