Mechanical Behavior of Composite Multilayered Basalt/E-Glass/Epoxy Pipe under Internal Pressure

Abstract

Pressurized composite pipes made of concentric fiber reinforced polymer layers have found much interest among researchers. These composite pipes possess mechanical and thermal properties that exceed those of their constituent materials. This development is motivated by the demand for corrosion resistant, lighter and high specific stiffness components. Natural fiber composite materials retain better flexural stiffness and are environmentally friendly. Unlike experimental testing, numerical investigations on the manufacture and performance of natural fiber reinforced pipes under internal pressure seem lacking. In this analysis, the mechanical behavior of multilayer composite pipes made of natural basalt and E-glass fibers under internal pressure were carried out numerically. The multilayered composite pipes were fabricated by employing filament winding technique with, basalt and E-glass fibers, with fiber orientation angles of ±45o, ±55o, ±65o, ±75o. The matrix epoxy resin was infused using vacuum infusion process (VIP). A longitudinal and hoop tensile test rig, designed and fabricated according to ASTM D2105 and D2299 respectively, was used to determine the hoop and longitudinal properties of the pipes. Numerical simulations were conducted to determine the stress and strain behaviors with the intention to find the effect of ply angle, basalt and glass properties and also to evaluate the performance of the new natural basalt fiber as an alternative to E-glass/Epoxy.