Studying the Mechanical Properties of Composites Using Natural Additives with Epoxy

Abstract

The main objective of this work was to investigate the effect of natural additives with an animal and vegetable source in the form of short fibers and particles. On the mechanical properties, epoxy wood dust, date palm fiber, cow bones and sheep wool were selected as natural additives with different weight ratios such as (5%, 15%, 25%) reinforcements for the epoxy matrix based on composites which were produced by the hand lay-up technique. Mechanical test such as Tensile, flexural and hardness strength were carried out according to ASTM standards to characterize these composites. It was found that the mechanical properties can be increased or decreased depending on the type of material additives, its origin, as well as the weight percentage used.