Integrated Mechanical, Interfacial, Fatigue, Tribological, and Thermal Performance of Fly Ash-Filled Hybrid Jute–Banana Fibre Reinforced Epoxy Composites for Sustainable Engineering Applications

The influence of fibre composition on interfacial behaviour and overall composite performance is critical to the development of sustainable materials for lightweight engineering applications. In this study, hybrid jute–banana fibre-reinforced epoxy composites containing a fixed 10 wt.% fly ash content were fabricated by the hand lay-up method using different jute-to-banana fibre ratios. The effect of fibre composition on the mechanical, interfacial, fatigue, tribological, thermal, and microstructural characteristics was systematically evaluated. At the optimum composition, tensile strength increased from 78.5 to 92.7 MPa, while flexural strength increased from 98 to 122 MPa and Shore D hardness increased from 78.2 to 86.4. Fatigue life increased from 1.2 × 10 4 to 2.3 × 10 4 cycles under cyclic loading. The wear rate decreased from 4.8 × 10 -4 to 2.5 × 10 -4 mm 3 /N·m, accompanied by a reduction in the coefficient of friction from 0.62 to 0.47. Interfacial shear strength increased from 18.2 to 23.8 MPa, while void content decreased from 4.8% to 3.5%. Thermal characterization yielded a storage modulus of 3.05 GPa, a glass transition temperature of 88.7 °C, and a degradation temperature of 322 °C. SEM observations indicated relatively uniform fly ash distribution within the examined regions, limited fibre pull-out, and controlled crack propagation. Overall, the results demonstrate that systematic variation of the jute-to-banana fibre ratio under a constant fly ash loading significantly influences the performance of the composite system, highlighting its potential for lightweight and sustainable engineering applications.

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