Characterisation of Kenaf/Glass Hybrid Fibre-Reinforced Epoxy Composites for Automotive Body Panel Applications

Hybrid natural/synthetic fibre composites offer a strategy for balancing the environmental benefits of natural fibres with the mechanical performance advantages of glass fibres in automotive structural applications. This study characterises kenaf/glass hybrid fibre-reinforced epoxy composites, evaluating their potential as lightweight automotive body panel materials within the context of the Nigerian automotive assembly sector. Composites were fabricated with kenaf and glass fibre layers in stacking sequences of all-kenaf, all-glass, kenaf/glass/kenaf sandwich, and glass/kenaf/glass sandwich configurations at a constant total fibre volume fraction of 35 percent. Mechanical properties assessed include tensile strength, flexural strength, impact energy, and interlaminar shear strength. Density measurements provided specific mechanical property values for weight efficiency comparison. Results show that glass/kenaf/glass sandwich configuration achieved tensile strength of 87 MPa and flexural strength of 124 MPa, representing improvements of 68 percent and 54 percent respectively over all-kenaf composites. Specific tensile strength of glass/kenaf/glass hybrid configuration was 92 percent of all-glass composites at 14 percent lower density, demonstrating weight reduction advantage. Impact energy was highest for kenaf/glass/kenaf sandwich at 38 kJ/m2, indicating superior toughening from the natural fibre core. Interlaminar shear strength of hybrid configurations exceeded all-kenaf composites by 35 percent. The study concludes that kenaf/glass hybrid composites offer favourable weight-to-property ratios suitable for non-structural automotive body panels and recommends prototype panel fabrication and validation against vehicle manufacturer technical specifications. Keywords: kenaf/glass hybrid composite, automotive body panel, epoxy, mechanical properties, lightweight