This study focuses on the performance characteristics of wood/short carbon fiber hybrid biopolyamide11 (PA11) composites. The composites were produced by melt‐compounding of the fibers with the polyamide via extrusion and injection molding. The results showed that mechanical properties, such as tensile and flexural strength and modulus of the wood fiber composites were significantly higher than the PA11 and hybridization with carbon fiber further enhanced the performance properties, as well as the thermal resistance of the composites. Compared to wood fiber composites (30% wood fiber), hybridization with carbon fiber (10% wood fiber and 20% carbon fiber) increased the tensile and flexural modulus by 168% and 142%, respectively. Izod impact strength of the hybrid composites exhibited a good improvement compared to wood fiber composites. Thermal properties and resistance to water absorption of the composites were improved by hybridization with carbon fiber. In overall, the study indicated that the developed hybrid composites are promising candidates for high performance applications, where high stiffness and thermal resistance are required. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43595.

Sustainable bio-based materials have remarkable environmental and health impacts throughout their life cycles. Over the past few decades, green biocomposites have attained rising attraction in the automotive industry, as they can be customized to meet many of its prime requirements. Polyamides are the most common engineering polymers used in the automotive industry due to their desirable properties. This study focuses on improving thermo-mechanical properties of wood fibre/carbon fibre biopolyamide hybrid composites for automotive applications. Important material properties such as tensile, flexural, and impact strengths along with density, melt flow index, and heat deflection temperature were studied and correlated with their SEM surface morphologies. The composites were produced by melt-compounding of the fibres and polymers via extrusion and injection moulding. All hybrid composites exhibited greater thermo-mechanical properties compared to wood fibre composites. Use of a polymer blend of polyamide and polypropylene matrix in the composites further enhanced performance properties of the composites while reducing the costs. The developed hybrid composites had lower densities compared to the existing materials used in some auto parts. The mechanical properties of polymer blend composites, including tensile, flexural, and impact properties were higher than those of polyamide composites. Image analysis showed efficient fibre-matrix adhesion with good fibre dispersion in the composites. A significant improvement in heat deflection temperature was observed for the hybrid polymer blend composites. The study indicated that the developed hybrid bio-based composites are promising candidates with light-weighting potential for automotive structural applications, where high stiffness and thermal resistance are required.

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