Investigation of Use of Hybrid Composite Materials in Automobile Interior

Abstract

Today, the issue of developing alternative new composite materials that can be obtained from environmentally friendly, renewable resources is an area that most researchers focus on. In many industrial sectors, the aim of transforming unsustainable products into sustainable products is common. Especially in the automotive sector, the rate of use in environmentally friendly materials with minimal damage to nature is increasing gradually instead of traditional materials. In this study, linen material, one of the natural fibers, and glass fibers with different weights per square meter were selected and the composite material was produced by vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) method using natural fiber reinforced epoxy matrix. Experimental studies have been conducted to examine the application of natural fiber reinforced composite materials as an alternative to traditional materials used in the vehicle interior. Thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetric analysis, hardness, and impact tests were applied to the composites produced by the vacuum infusion method, and the basic mechanical properties and thermal stability of the materials were determined. The results show that adding different weights of glass fiber per square meter to natural fiber has been found to significantly increase the properties of composites in both thermal and mechanical aspects.