www.tjprc.org SCOPUS Indexed Journal editor@tjprc.org EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF FLEXURAL AND HARDNESS BEHAVIOUR OF HEMP FLAX HYBRID COMPOSITE S. SHARAVANAN, B. VIJAYA RAMNATH, M. CHANDRASEKARAN & S. RAJESH 1 Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, VELS Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies (VISTAS), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Sairam Engineering College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, VELS Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies (VISTAS), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India 4 Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Sairam Engineering College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India ABSTRACT Composites are nowadays used in automobiles, aerospace and marine engineering applications due to their low cost and less weight. This paper involves the fabrication and testing the flexural and hardness behavior of hemp and flax hybrid composite. In this work, the laminates are prepared by the hand-layup method. Epoxy resin with HY951 hardener is used as the binding agent for fabrication of a hybrid composite. Woven glass fiber (GFRP) layers are used on both sides of the laminate to increase strength and stiffness of the composites. The natural fibers layers are sandwiched between the GFRP layers. The natural fibers have been chosen on the basis of, its strength, low density, degradability and its availability. The result showed that hybrid composite laminate has superior flexural and hardness behavior than other laminates. KEYWORDS: Flax Fiber, Hemp Fiber, Hybrid Composite & Mechanical Testing Received: Apr 25, 2018; Accepted: May 16, 2018; Published: Jun 26, 2018; Paper Id.: IJMPERDAUG20187 INTRODUCTION Flax and hemp fibers have good mechanical properties. Hence, they are used as reinforcements in making composite laminate for automobile applications. Bensadoun et al (1) investigated on the low velocity impact properties of flax composites which shows the longevity and safety of the composites. Two composite matrix flax-epoxy and flax-MAPP were tested and compared. It was found that the energy absorbed by the flax-MAPP was 50 % higher than the flax-epoxy. The flex-epoxy resulted in a strong decrease in properties after impact. Also the use of ductile thermoplastic matrix results in decreased impact area. Bambachet al (2) has investigated on the Geometric optimization and compression design of natural fiber composite structural channel sections. It was carried out by the inclusion of geometric stiffeners which restricts the development of local buckling, creating less slender channel sections with greater compression strength. Compression strengths are compared with steel and timber wall stud strengths. They concluded that the developed composite suitable for residential building applications. The combined plain channel and stiffened channel experimental data cover a broad range of section slenderness values. Heedev Antony et al (3) investigated on the hemp fiber yarns that are detached from taffeta and serge fabrics. Experimental, analytical and numerical analysis was made. They concluded that the study improves Original Article International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development (IJMPERD) ISSN (P): 2249-6890; ISSN (E): 2249-8001 Vol. 8, Issue 4, Aug 2018, 55-60 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.