Fibre hybrid composites consisting of discontinuous waste carbon fibre and continuous glass filaments developed for load-bearing structures with improved impact strength

Abstract

The aim of this research is to improve the impact strength of composites manufactured from discontinuous waste carbon fibre (CF). For this purpose, novel multi-material hybrid yarns with a core-sheath structure are developed from a mix of waste CF and polyamide 6 (PA 6) fibre (60 mm) that is combined with continuous glass filaments in the core and PA 6 fibre in the sheath. The tensile and Charpy impact properties of the unidirectional hybrid composites produced from the developed multi-material hybrid yarns are compared with those of a non-hybrid composite reinforced exclusively with waste CF. Results revealed that the impact strength of hybrid composites can be augmented by 50.5% by adding only 6 vol% of glass filaments to waste CF. An increase of 18.4% in impact strength can be achieved in hybrid composites if the total fibre volume content is identical with that of non-hybrid composites.