The role of fiber distribution on the in-situ resin behavior in the hybrid polymer composites

Abstract

The sensitivity of the in-situ resin response in the composite to the variability in fiber distribution combined with the changes in hybrid fiber ratio and total fiber volume fraction are studied using finite element analysis. Highly stiff carbon fibers and less stiff glass fibers are arranged differently in the micromechanical composite models to represent various fiber distributions. The results from the post buckling analysis indicate that the in-situ resin behavior could be altered by varying the fiber distribution in the composite. This significantly affected the hybrid composite performance under compression loading. In the case of symmetric fiber arrangement, the respective positions of glass and carbon fibers determined the onset and progress of local resin plasticity. When both the fibers were off centre, relatively there was an early collapse of the hybrid composite. A qualitative match in the prediction of the compressive strength of hybrid composites with available experimental data in literature is also presented.