Effect of cellulose nanofiber and carbon nanotube reinforcement on the in-plane and out-of-plane mechanical properties of jute/glass fiber hybrid composites

With the advancement of technology, the use of composite materials has increased in many sectors. In this context, the use of natural fibers in composite material production is also on the rise today. The main reasons behind the growing popularity of natural fiber usage include the increasing importance of using raw materials with high biodegradability to protect the environment and the high costs of synthetic raw materials, which negatively impact production expenses. Accordingly, various studies have been conducted on the mechanical properties of composite materials incorporating natural fibers. In this thesis study, the mechanical properties of a composite material produced by the hand lay-up method using glass fiber (a synthetic fiber) and jute (a natural fiber) were investigated. For this purpose, eight different hybrid composite materials were produced using various configurations of glass fiber and jute. The bending, tensile, short beam shear (SBS), and buckling tests were performed to examine the importance of fiber arrangement in the use of natural fibers in composites. After identifying the configuration that exhibited the best mechanical properties, cellulose nanofiber and carbon nanotube powders were added at rates of 0.05%, 0.10%, and 0.20% to this configuration. The composite materials were reproduced, and the same tests were carried out again to investigate the effect of nanoparticle powder inclusion on the mechanical properties of natural fiber composites. According to the experimental results, with the addition of nanoparticles to the reference specimen, improvements of approximately 30% in the SBS test, 26% in the bending test, 8% in the tensile test, and 30% in the buckling test were observed.