Hybrid Composite Plates Research Articles

Potential applications of basalt fibre composites in thermal shielding

This present study demonstrates the applicability of basalt fibre-reinforced polymer (BFRP) composite materials in thermal shielding. Basalt fibres are produced from natural, sustainable sources and obtain comparable mechanical performance to commercial glass fibres. In addition to their mechanical strength, BFRPs have excellent chemical and heat resistance. Basalt fibres tend to have a higher thermal stability than their competitor glass fibres. The heat resistance of basalt fibres derives from the volcanic origin of the raw material basalt gabbro. These favourable features make BFRP composites an attractive group of materials for application in several industries. To test the fire resistance of the materials, we produced mono and hybrid composite plates from different types of basalt reinforcement structures (milled fibres, chopped fibres and woven fabric) and epoxy resin. Surface treatment with silane coupling agents significantly improved the mechanical and thermomechanical properties of BFRPs by up to 70%. Three-point bending tests were performed to determine the flexural properties of the composite specimens, and their fire behaviour was evaluated with a horizontal burning test, and a novel jet fire test assisted with infrared thermal imaging. Higher fibre content in hybrid laminates decreased the linear burning rate by 8%, and the maximum surface temperature was approximately 80 °C lower after jet fire impingement compared to woven reinforcement structure.

Numerical Deflection Analysis of Rectangular Laminated Composite Plates - Truck Bed - Case Study

Transport industry plays a vital role in development of economy of countries. To increase the load carrying capacity of the truck, the weight of truck bed may be reduced using fibre reinforced composite material. In this work, a numerical investigation is performed to reduce the weight of the truck bed using different types of laminated composites. An extensive study is conducted using unidirectional and woven fibres of glass, carbon and Kevlar fibres with polyester, epoxy and vinyl ester resins. Carbon fibre laminated plates have higher stiffness than Glass and Kevlar composite plates. Asymmetrically hybrid composite plates have lower stiffness than symmetrically hybrid composite plates. It is observed that the stiffness of plate is increased when kevlar unidirectional fibres are arranged at top and bottom of the laminate. [K/Gw]S hybrid composite plates has the lowest deflection than other five hybrid composite plates. An optimization study is performed to identify the influencing parameter for deflection of the composite materials among material type, fibre volumetric fraction and the thickness of plate using Taguchi method. The results revealed that thickness of the plate has more influential than other two parameters.

Improving Composite Low Velocity Impact Performance Using SMA: A Multiscale Analysis

The goal of this investigation is to carry out a study about low velocity impacts in hybrid composite plates made by polymer matrix and glass fibers reinforced with Shape Memory Alloy (SMA). SMA are considered due to capability to dissipate energy induced by phase transformation known as pseudoelasticity. A multiscale approach is performed to evaluate the influence of fiber volume fraction, SMA thickness and SMA attachment in the laminate. First, VSPKc micromechanical analytical model is applied to compute laminae effective properties from fiber and matrix properties. Lamina properties are used as input for the numerical models, which are developed using the commercial finite element software Ansys and considering a cross-ply laminate [02/902]2s. The influence of SMA inclusion is studied by evaluating the damage resulting from the impact using the Puck failure criterion. Considering laminae with fiber volume fractions equal to 0.3 and 0.5, the use of 10% of SMA in series with the top ply eliminate the damage. For the fiber volume fraction equal to 0.7, an average damage decreasing of 63% is achieved.

Post buckling responses of carbon nanotubes’ fiber reinforced and nanoclay modified polymer matrix hybrid composite plate under in-plane buckling load using the higher order shear deformation theory

The buckling response of carbon nanotubes’ fibers (CNTs’ fibers) reinforced and nanoclay modified polymer matrix hybrid nanocomposite plates under in-plane buckling loads (IBLs) is studied using the efficient finite element method (FEM) based on a higher order shear deformation theory (HSDT). The conventional carbon fibers are reinforced in polymer matrix materials of cross-ply and angle-ply CNTs’ fibers reinforced and nanoclay modified polymer hybrid nanocomposite plates. The material properties are discussed using modified Halpin-Tsai relationships. An interactive MATLAB program based on FEM is developed to evaluate the critical buckling load (CBL) of a hybrid nanocomposite plate through a minimum potential energy approach. The hybrid nanocomposite plates subjected to in-plane buckling loads (IBLs) are studied in detail for their linear and nonlinear responses with respect to the critical buckling load (CBL) and variations in (a) load ratio of the laminated hybrid plate, (b) amplitude ratio, (c) carbon nanotubes’ fibers and nanoclays’ particles, (d) inplane buckling loads such as uniaxial, biaxial, shear, uniaxial with shear, and biaxial with shear, (e) stacking sequences, (f) buckling modes, and (g) length-to-diameter ratio. The results of the simulations are in fairly good agreement with the previously published sources.

Effect of Carbon Nanotubes Volume Fraction on the Deflections and Stresses of Laminated Hybrid Composite Plates using First-Order Shear Deformation Theory

Carbon Nanotubes reinforced composite materials are widely used in aerospace engineering due to high strength-to-weight ratios, which can be tailored per requirements. The behaviour of the composite structures depends on various factors like, Lamination scheme, Ply orientation and loading conditions. In the present work, Static deflection and stresses analysis of a Carbon Nano Tube reinforced laminated hybrid composite plate extends the First Order Shear Deformation Theory with variable ply angles and volume fractions of CNT. A micromechanics model based on the Mori-Tanaka method is used to calculate the properties of CNT reinforced laminate. In this analysis, hybrid composite plates mainly consist of Graphite/epoxy, Kevlar/epoxy and CNT/ polystyrene sub-laminates. The lamination scheme and CNT volume fraction play a vital role in the non-dimensional deflections and stresses. The main intention of this work is to enhance the suitability of CNT reinforced Hybrid composite plates under static loading for structural applications.

Deformation of Carbon Nano Tubes Reinforced Hybrid Laminated Composite Plates induced by Piezoelectric Actuators

Piezoelectric materials, typically used as intelligent materials, can respond according to the design demands of the composite structures autonomously. The excitation of piezoelectric actuators generates the bending effect on the hybrid composite plates. An analytical methodology is developed to calculate the displacements of simply supported laminated composite plates induced by piezoelectric actuators and validate the results by generating MATLAB code. Further, the laminated hybrid composite plates reinforced with carbon nanotubes(CNT) are excited by piezoelectric actuators bonded to the surface on both sides with a variable electrical voltage across the thickness. The effects of location, size and thickness ratio of piezoelectric actuators on the deflection of hybrid composite plates are carried out by extending the code. The transverse displacements vary linearly with the applied voltage and size of the piezoelectric actuators. The effect of CNT volume fraction and the position of CNT lamina plays a vital role in deflections, and also it is observed that maximum displacements decrease rapidly as thickness ratio increases from 0.5 to 5 and from 10 to 50, the maximum displacements gradually decrease. Hence, it illustrated that the present technique provides a simple solution for predicting and controlling the deformed shape of reinforced hybrid composite plates induced by distributed piezoelectric actuators.

Isogeometric analysis based on non-uniform rational B-splines technology of stress and failure strength in inter-ply hybrid laminated composite

In the present study, the stress distribution and first ply failure strength of hybrid laminated composites subjected to uniaxial tensile and compression loads are predicted using Isogeometric analysis (IGA) based on non-uniform rational B-splines technology, commonly referred to as non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS) technology. The obtained results were compared to finite element method results (ANSYS) published in the literature and analytical results using Autodesk Helius Composite software. Graphite-glass/epoxy hybrid composite plates are analyzed for different lamination orientations and used to calculate first ply failure strength. Non-interactive theories such as maximum stress, maximum strain, and fully interactive criteria such as Tsai-Wu, Tsai-Hill and Hoffman are used to predict the failure strength of different laminates. The failure envelopes of the hybrid composites are developed using the same failure criteria used for the graphite-glass/epoxy hybrid composite. The effects of IGA refinement and plate’s dimension on the present analysis were also established. The IGA results showed good accuracy, robustness and good convergence speed with the analytical software results and the finite element method (FEM) reference value.

Characterisation of Flexural Properties of Glass Fibre/Pineapple Leaf Fibre (PALF) Hybrid Composite

The use of natural resource materials has gained awareness among industries recently. Today, replacing the material with something more environmentally friendly, especially from waste natural products like pineapple leaf fibre (PALF), is a top concern. This research aims to look at the flexural properties of a glass fibre/pineapple leaf fibre (PALF) hybrid composite. The hand layup and cold compression methods were used to manufacture the hybrid composite plates, which provide 30 wt% of fibre and 70 wt% of the matrix. The form of the hybrid composite was unidirectional with a size of 30 cm 30 cm 3 cm and sandwich stacking. Universal testing equipment was used to conduct the flexural test. With a flexural strength of 290.11 MPa, 5 wt% PALF and 25 wt% bi-directional glass fibre were found to have the maximum flexural strength.

Vibration of variable stiffness composite laminate and hybrid composite laminate plates coupled to sloshing fluid

In the present article, Reddy shear deformation plate theory is employed to investigate the free vibration of vertical laminated composite plates coupled to sloshing liquid. Two different types of composite plate are considered; hybrid composite laminate (HCL) plate, which consists of two types of fiber, and variable stiffness composite laminate (VSCL) plate, which is made of curvilinear fibers. The applied Reddy shear deformation theory introduces a nonlinear through-thickness distribution for the transverse shear stress, and it satisfies the zero stress conditions at the bottom and top surfaces of the plate. The sloshing fluid, which is partly in contact with the plate, is modeled as ideal, and the bulging and sloshing modes related to that are calculated using the fluid velocity potential. The interaction between fluid and solid is modeled through the continuity equation and boundary conditions at the fluid–solid interface. To extract the vibrational characteristics of the structure coupled to fluid, a polynomial approximation based on the Rayleigh-Ritz method is employed. After validating the proposed methodology, a parametric study is conducted to show the effects of various parameters associated with the fluid and structure on the natural frequencies of the system.

Nonlinear static analysis of CNT/nanoclay particles reinforced polymer matrix composite plate using secant function based shear deformation theory

ABSTRACT The mechanically induced nonlinear statical assessment of the bending response of single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) fibers on nanoclay-particle-reinforced polymer hybrid laminated composite plate is explored under static loading conditions. A numerical approach is used to find the mechanical properties of CNT-reinforced hybrid laminated plates prepared by involving nanoclay particles in the existing CNT-reinforced epoxy composites. The transverse nonlinear central deflection of a hybrid nanocomposite subjected to mechanical loading based on the Halpin–Tsai approach is evaluated. For the fundamental formulation, a secant-function-based shear deformation theory (SFSDT) and von Kármán nonlinearity are implemented. The influence of CNT/nanoclay particles over the nonlinear bending responses of the hybrid laminated plate under various loading circumstances is studied in detail. A Newton–Raphson method based on nonlinear finite element technique is used for the hybrid nanocomposite plate. Furthermore, the impact of different design parameters, such as thicknesses of CNT fibers, different interphases along with aspect ratios, stacking sequences under different boundary conditions, and the types of loads on the nonlinear transverse central deflection of CNT/nanoclay-reinforced polymer hybrid composite plate, has been investigated. The effectiveness of the suggested model has been confirmed by comparing it to deflection reactions found in the literature.

Some improvements on the energy absorbed in composite plate resting on the viscoelastic substrate

The vibration, as well as energy of a reinforced three-phase hybrid composite plate resting on a viscoelastic foundation subjected to initial stress, is examined with the aid of three-dimensional elasticity theory. The two-parameter viscoelastic Winkler–Pasternak foundation is formulated. The multilayer plate with three, five, and seven layers are modeled with the aid of compatibility conditions. The state-space-based analytical method is utilized as the solution procedure to extract the results. To attain the composite material properties, the rule of the mixture alongside modified Halpin–Tsai model is incorporated. The distribution of the carbon nanotubes is supposed to be nonuniform. The parametric examination on the impacts of the sequence of the composite layers, initial stresses, foundation coefficients, and nanocomposite related constants on the vibration frequency as well as energy stored in the system is carried out. The extracted results indicate that the initial stresses and foundation parameters play a significant role in determining the frequency value along with the energy of the system.

The effect carbon nanotube on three-point bending behavior of fiber reinforced composite

The aim of this research article is to show the effect of Carbon Nanotube (CNT) additive on the performance of composite plate materials with fiber reinforced polymer matrix produced by vacuum infusion method under bending test. In this study, multiple layered composite plates have produced by glass, carbon, and aramid fiber reinforcements with 0.5% CNT addition by mass. In addition, a hybrid composite plate containing glass, carbon and aramid (Kevlar) fiber has produced with CNT addition by using the same production parameters. Three point bending test has performed on the composite plates under 1 mm/min bending with ASTM D7264 standard. As a result, CNT addition has increased the flexural performance but has decreased the elongation of glass and carbon fiber reinforced systems. In aramid reinforced system, both flexural strength and elongation has increased. However, in the hybrid fiber reinforced system, different fiber types have damaged at different elongation distances within the structure under different loads, and gradually more than one failure have observed. When the CNT has added to the hybrid system, the elongation increased but the flexural strength has decreased.

Dynamic characterization of hybrid composite based on flax/E-glass epoxy composite plates

The fundamental investigation on the dynamic characterization of Flax/E-glass hybrid composite plates was done and the mathematical model was developed for Flax/E-glass hybrid composite using Finite element method. In this experimental set up vaccum bagging process was implemented in order to fabricate prototypes of Flax/Epoxy, E-glass/Epoxy, Flax/E-glass epoxy hybrid composites and to conduct experimental investigation on dynamic properties. The first order shear deformation plate theory was used in this study for developing the mathematical model. Modal analysis was done on each composite plate for three times and average was taken between the values obtained to minimize the error. By this natural frequency of Flax/Epoxy, E-glass/Epoxy and Flax/E-glass epoxy hybrid composite and natural frequencies were found out experimentally by modal testing. The effect of natural frequencies on composite material, with respect to boundary condition, ply angle and aspect ratio were studied and the experimental results were validated with respect to mathematical modeling Mode Shapes with effect of natural frequencies on composite material, ply angle, aspect ratio, boundary conditions were studied, for all laminates and it was found that for all laminates CCCC boundary condition has high natural frequencies compared to other models. Hence it was observed that experimental results obtained through modal testing were very close to the Matlab results.

Comparative study on tensile characteristics of friction stir welded aluminium hybrid composite plates

The recent promising fields of material development include biomaterials, nanomaterials, smart materials, composites, materials for energy generation and storage along with advanced manufacturing processes. The challenge of developing new material is becoming more interesting. A lot of research work is in progress to fulfill the necessity or requirement for special or advanced engineering materials. This research work prominently concentrated on various parameters of friction welding on low melting aluminium alloy matrix materials constitutes with reinforcement ingredients like E-Glass short fibers and Silicon carbide fine particles and subjected to ASTM standard tensile specimens for unidirectional tensile test, the results should be tabulated and compared.

Sonlu Elemanlar ve İstatistiksel Yöntemler Kullanılarak Ankastre Tabakalı Hibrit Kompozit Plakaların Burkulma Analizi

In this study, the critical buckling load of hybrid composite plates with three layers was analyzed using numerical and statistical methods. Laminated hybrid composite plates were designed using glass-epoxy, boron-epoxy, carbon-epoxy, and metal. The outermost layers of the plates were modelled using fiber reinforced composite materials whereas the innermost layer of plates was created using Aluminum material (Al2024-T3). Numerical buckling behavior was calculated using finite element software ANSYS. Analysis of signal-to-noise ratio was utilized to decide the effects and optimal levels of the plates and their fiber orientation angles on buckling load. Analysis of variance at the 95 % confidence level was employed to indicate the control factors which have significant effect on the buckling responses.

Thermal buckling of advanced hybrid composite plates in the co-presence of CNTs and SMAs

The main purpose of the present work is to investigate the simultaneous effects of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and shape memory alloy (SMA) wires on the thermal buckling behavior of graphite fiber/epoxy (GF/EP) composite plates. The thermal stability equations of hybrid SMA/CNT/GF/EP composite plates are derived based on the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT), and solved using generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method. The influences of CNTs and SMA wires on the buckling temperature of the hybrid composite plates are assessed for different geometric parameters, layups and boundary conditions. The numerical results indicate that CNTs have an almost constant effect on the thermal stability of composite plates while SMAs show different performances, depending on the geometric parameters, layups and boundary conditions. Interestingly, it is shown that in some circumstances, the use of either CNTs or SMAs alone does not effectively change the thermal buckling behavior of the composite plates, but their co-incorporation leads to a dramatic enhancement in the buckling temperature of the structure.

Smart damping of a simply supported laminated CNT-based hybrid composite plate using FE approach

We present the finite element (FE) model using the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) to investigate the damping performance of laminated hybrid fiber-reinforced composite (HFRC) smart plates via the active constrained layer damping (ACLD) treatment. A unique feature of the HFRC is that the nanoscale carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are embedded in the matrix phase of carbon fiber composite to improve the overall properties, especially the damping characteristics of the resulting HFRC. Two- and three-phase micromechanical models are employed to determine the effective elastic properties of the base composite and HFRC respectively. The constraining layer of the ACLD treatment is considered to be made of vertically reinforced 1–3 piezoelectric composite (PZC) material. The system consists of a laminated HFRC plate integrated with the two patches of ACLD treatment and the numerical results are computed for three cases: symmetric and anti-symmetric cross-ply, and anti-symmetric angle-ply. The damping performance of the laminated HFRC square plate is significantly enhanced over the laminated base composite plate due to the incorporation of a small amount of CNTs. In particular, the anti-symmetric angle-ply case provides better damping than symmetric/anti-symmetric cross-ply cases. Analysis of the HFRC plate showed that its vibration amplitudes can be attenuated from ∼8 to ∼16% by adding a small amount CNTs. The effect of in-plane and transverse actuation of 1–3 PZC on the damping characteristics of the overall plate was also studied. We found that the transverse actuation significantly influences the damping performance of the overall plate. The outcomes of our study provide substantial evidence that the addition of a small amount of CNTs in the conventional composite structure can improve its damping performance significantly. This is practically possible in view of the recent research activities in the field of fabrication of large-scale CNT-based hybrid composite structures.

Tensile, Flexural and Impact Properties of Hybrid Sunnhemp-Flax Fiber Based Thermosetting Composites

ABSTRACT The recent trends in material science are focused toward composite materials. It has been used in a lot of real-life applications. In composite material, recently researchers concentrated on the natural fibers because of their sustainable effect and focus on the environment. In this paper, sunnhemp and flax natural fibers were selected for making the new hybrid natural composite material. The mechanical properties of hybrid natural composites were determined by experimental approach. The hybrid composite plates were made with the blending of sunnhemp and flax fibers using polyester resin as a matrix material. The sunnhemp-flax reinforced polyester composite plates were made by various fiber lengths such as 15 mm, 30 mm, and 50 mm. Similarly, composite plates were made with different orientations angles like 0°, 45°, and 90°. The mechanical test has been conducted for different orientations such as unidirectional, biaxial, triaxial, and random. It was found that the triaxial-oriented fiber exhibited better results in tensile strength (86.3 MPa), flexural strength (117.1 MPa), and impact strength (153.8 kJ/m2).

Cast-in-situ vs prefabricated solution based on NSM-CFRP reinforced SHCC for seismic retrofitting of severely damaged substandard RC beam-column joints

In this study, the effectiveness of two retrofitting solutions for the repair and upgrading of severely damaged substandard RC beam-column joints is examined and compared. Both solutions are made of CFRP reinforced SHCC (Strain Hardening Cementitious Composite). However, whilst one of the solutions follows a cast-in-situ retrofitting strategy, the other is based on bonding prefabricated Hybrid Composite Plates (HCP). Chemical anchors were used to prevent or delay debonding of the retrofitting layer.

Effect of patch dimension and fiber orientation on non-linear buckling of hybrid composites

AbstractIn this study, first circular hole layered hybrid composite plates were repaired by wet patch method, and then buckling behavior was investigated experimentally and numerically. In the experimental study, composite plates were produced by vacuum infusion method using hybrid fabrics made of carbon and aramid. Circular holes were drilled in the produced plates and then these holes were repaired with the same material. In the wet patch repair method, wet hybrid fabrics impregnated with epoxy resin were placed around the hole and then this area was subjected to pressure and temperature by vacuum infusion method. In experimental tests, pressure force was applied to the fixed sides and force-displacement graphs were obtained. In a numerical study, non-linear buckling analysis was performed by creating numerical models of plates and patches using the finite element method. As a result, experimental and numerical load-displacement graphs were obtained in accordance with pre- and post-buckling. Thanks to the repair in accordance with practical applications, no interface debonding damage occurred in ideal samples. Increasing the patch length from 30 mm to 40 mm increased the maximum damage load by 6 %, while increasing the patch length to 50 mm increased damage load by 12 %. Increasing the patch thickness from 0.65 mm to 1.1 mm increased the load by 67 %, while increasing it to 2.16 mm increased the load to 247 %. Fiber orientation was found to be a more influencing factor in critical buckling and damage load than the ply sequence.