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4.7.3 The Effect of Reinforcement Selection on the Flexural Properties in the

Combination of E-glass with Basalt, Jute or Flax Fibres

The effects of hybridisation of E-glass/basalt, E-glass/jute and E-glass/flax

were compared based on the specific flexural strength and modulus, as shown in Figure
4.10. The E-glass/jute shows the highest specific flexural strength and modulus for

both SL and IC sequences compared to the E-glass/basalt and E-glass/flax. In the

meantime, even though the basalt natural fibre, B7 exhibits superior properties
compared to jute, J7 and flax, F7 in general, in the application of structural design when

high strength and stiffness to weight-ratio is highly concerned, jute is preferable over
basalt. The hybrid laminate of E-glass/flax exhibits the lowest properties of flexural

strength and modulus for both sequences as depicted in Figure 4.10. In terms of density
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value, G2/B3/G2, G2/J3/G2, G2/F3/G2 shows the densities of 1.85, 1.43 and 1.56 g/cm ,
respectively as shown in Table 4.1. The lowest density recorded by G2/J3/G2,

suggesting that density of the laminate play a vital role for material selection in
constructing hybrid composite materials as found in the previous literatures on the

effect of hybridisation on the materials selection in investigating the flexural behaviour
of hybrid laminated composites using E-glass/hemp reinforced PP [40], the effects of

hybridisation of E-glass/coir on tensile and flexural loadings [161], hybridisation on
the damage resistance of woven E-glass, woven carbon and UD carbon using drop

impact [156], and mechanical characterisation of hybrid composite laminates using

basalt, flax, hemp and E-glass fibres [80].

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