Influence of kenaf fabric on the tensile performance of environmentally sustainable fibre metal laminates

Abstract

Towards the use of environment friendly materials, the recent trend has inclined to the natural based resources in a wide variety of applications. Fibre metal laminates are the contemporary materials used in aerospace industry due to the excellent mechanical behaviour compared to conventional metallic alloys. In this study, the effects of kenaf fabric layers, fibre orientations and chemical treatment on the tensile responses of thermoplastic fibre metal laminates were investigated. The laminates were formed based on plain weave kenaf fabric, polypropylene and annealed aluminium 6061 through the hot press compression method. The tensile test was performed at a quasi-static rate of loading with reference to ASTM E8. Experimental results revealed that the number of kenaf fabric has a major contribution to the tensile strength and modulus of the laminates. For untreated laminates, it was noticed that the increase in the kenaf fabric layers deteriorates the tensile strength and modulus. For treated laminates, the encapsulation of two layers of kenaf fabric exhibited the highest tensile properties. Furthermore, fibre metal laminates with a fibre orientation of 0°/90° exhibited higher tensile strength and modulus compared to fibre orientation of ±45°. However, higher elongation was observed for the laminates with a fibre orientation of ±45° due to the scissoring effect. Overall, the treated laminates showed higher tensile strength and modulus than untreated laminates.