Investigations on the impact of laminate angle on the damping performance of basalt-epoxy composite laminate

Abstract

Tremendously and are usually designed in different laminate angles to serve for various operating conditions. The impact of change in laminate angle relative to the direction of application of load on the dynamic mechanical behavior of materials must be studied systematically. Properties such as biodegradability combined with low manufacture cost and physio-mechanical properties made the basalt fiber to emerge as an alternative material to synthetic fibers. For the current work, the effect of laminate angle on damping characteristics such as storage modulus, glass transition temperature and loss factor of the basalt-epoxy composite was analyzed at various frequencies using the Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA). The composite samples were made from a unidirectional basalt fabric and epoxy resin with a hardener, using a hand layup technique followed by the compression method. It was noticed that the storage modulus is remarkably affected by laminate angle and increase in frequency. Results also confirmed that the composite with a 0° laminate angle exhibits higher storage modulus whereas the composite with a 60° laminate angle has better damping properties, and the composite with a 45° laminate angle achieved the highest glass transition temperature.