Woven Fiber Research Articles

FLEXURAL STRENGTH OF KEVLAR EPOXY COMPOSITES ON DIFFERENT FIBER ORIENTATIONS

Nowadays, polymer fiber composites are very popular due to its weight-strength ratio in various industries. There are different types of natural and artificial fibers used for different purposes, according to the strength requirements. Uni-directional and bi-directional woven fabrics are very common for commercial purposes. Here this paper is focused on the behavior of different orientations of bi-directional woven reinforced composites to improve the efficiency of the ability of composites to resist bending deflection when energy is applied to the structure, it determines the resistance to flexing or stiffness of a material. In the present research, the theoretical and practical method was used to calculate the flexural strength of composite material consisting of epoxy resin LY 556 (50%) with different fiber orientations of woven Kevlar fibers. Ansys 2020R version was used to study the effect on different shapes of Kevlar-epoxy composite material. The standard ASTM D790 was used for the laboratory test and Ansys program. the result analysis focused on the stress-strain variation with the orientation and shapes

Blast Fragment Impact of Angle-Ply Composite Structures for Buildings Wall Protection

This paper investigates the fragment performance of several composite panels for attaching to the inside walls of a building structure. These panels were developed using different types of fiber woven fabrics (W0, W90) combined with distinct layers orientations (angle-ply effect) of L0/0 and L0/15. Aramid, E-glass, and S-glass fiber fabrics impregnated with thermosetting epoxy resin, and a prepreg of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (HB24) were employed. The panels are subjected to ballistic impact using different fragments under impact velocities in the range of 120 to 420 m/s. In order to measure the energy absorbed by the ballistic panels, the impact velocity and the residual velocity of the fragment were measured with laser chronographs placed before and after the laminated test specimens. The paper demonstrates quantitatively that the angle-ply laminates produced using L0/15 woven fabric orientation presented a higher impact energy absorption, promoting higher reductions on the fragment residual velocity compared to the L0/0 orientations. The laminates produced using UHMWPE fibers (HB24) presented better ballistic properties compared to the other fibers. Furthermore, it was noted that the energy dissipation rate is linearly correlated with the impact velocity and is independent of the fragment geometry.

Buckling of woven fibre and graphene platelet reinforced nanocomposite laminates

Buckling of a hybrid laminate combining woven glass fibres with graphene platelets in a polymer matrix is the subject of the present study. Multiscale composites provide improved stiffness and light weigh laminates and as such they have become the materials of choice in several applications. The elastic properties of 3-phase materials are determined by using micromechanical relations. In the present study, the elastic constants of the woven fabric are computed first and the second step involves extending the micromechanical computations to determine the properties of the 3-phase woven fabric-graphene reinforced matrix. The objective is to improve the buckling capacity of the woven fabric laminates with high stiffness and light weight graphene reinforcement. Analytical results are given for the buckling load for a simply supported and orthotropic laminate, taking into account the complex pattern of woven fabrics consisting of weft and warp fibres. Numerical results illustrate the effect of the design parameters such as the layer thicknesses, fibre and graphene contents and aspect ratio on the buckling load. In particular, the effectiveness of the graphene reinforcement on improving buckling load is illustrated by means of contour plots.

Tensile and Bending Behaviour of Steel–Glass Fibre-Reinforced and Non-Reinforced Steel–Polyamide Sandwich Materials

The newly-developed thermoplastic-based fibre metal laminates (T-FML) show good prospects for their application in the automotive industry because of their lightweight potential and thermal formability. This paper focuses on describing the tensile and bending properties of this hybrid material as structural components for load-bearing parts in vehicles. For this purpose, the uniaxial tensile and four-point bending behaviours of steel/glass fibre-reinforced polyamide 6 (GF-PA6)/steel-laminates are investigated. The effects of cover/core layer thickness ratio and fibre weaving style on their tensile and bending properties are considered, while the span-to-thickness ratio was kept constant. Testing of the mono-materials and laminates of Metal/PA6/Metal (MPM) is performed to be considered as a reference. Further, the analytical method is validated to predict the bending properties of the laminates. A good agreement between the analytical values and experimental results regarding the bending strength and modulus is revealed. T-FML showed better tensile and bending properties with increasing fibre content compared to the GF-PA6 mono-organosheet and MPM.

Erosion wear response of ramie‐epoxy composites using artificial neural network integrated with Taguchi technique

AbstractThis paper aims on evaluating the erosion wear behavior of epoxy composites reinforced with ramie fibers. The possibility of reinforcing ramie fiber to improvise the wear resistance of epoxy is investigated in this study. Composites are fabricated by reinforcing multiple layers of woven ramie fiber mats into epoxy resin using conventional wet lay‐up technique and erosion wear trials are conducted using solid particle erosion test setup. Taguchi analysis is done to assess the relative significance of each of the factors influencing the erosion rate using L16 orthogonal array. The analysis reveals that the impact velocity followed by impingement angle are the most significant control factors affecting the erosion wear rate of ramie‐epoxy composites. Steady state erosion analysis is done to ascertain the effect of each of the significant factors while keeping other factors fixed. Further, an analytical and predictive model based on the principle of neural computation is used to predict the rate of erosion wear of the composites and the obtained results are compared with the experimental outcomes. The worn morphologies of the eroded surfaces of the composites are studied and analyzed to identify possible mechanisms causing wear.

Parametric optimization of response parameter of Nd-YAG laser drilling for basalt-PTFE coated glass fibre using genetic algorithm

Composite materials are well-recognised in the automobile and aerospace industries due to their high strength-to-weight ratios. The orientation of fibres and anisotropic properties are gaining the attention of design engineers daily in different manufacturing industries. For stipulated requirements, hybrid composite materials can be developed. Hybrid composite materials have higher variations in the material; it’s difficult to machine using conventional methods. This manuscript reports the optimization of Nd: YAG drilling on basalt and PTFE-coated glass woven fibres hybrid composite material made with hand lay-up method using a genetic algorithm. The process control parameters considered for the laser drilling were lamp current, pulse width, stand-off distance and compressed air pressure. The average values of the top- and bottom-hole diameters were recorded to evaluate and optimise the hole taper. Optimized input parameters yielded were a lamp current of 180 A, a pulse width of 3 ms, a stand-off distance of 3 mm and compressed air pressure of 8 kg/cm2. The validation test of the optimized process yielded a hole taper angle of 0.00285°.

Prediction of the buckling mode of cylindrical composite shells with imperfections using FEM-based deep learning approach

This study introduces a new method for predicting buckling modes in cylindrical composite shells using a deep learning approach based on finite element method (FEM). The study used carbon fiber woven prepreg material and collected 520 data sets through an Abaqus-Python program. A deep neural network was trained using FEM results to accurately predict the buckling mode of cylindrical composite shells with imperfections. The study employed a generative adversarial network and the pix2pix deep learning algorithm in the prediction process. The deep learning model achieved a similar level of prediction accuracy as traditional FEM, but was much more efficient. The study also utilized logistic regression to examine the relationship between input variables and buckling modes. The research shows the potential of the FEM-based deep learning approach to improve the efficiency of buckling mode prediction in cylindrical composite shells, which is critical for their design and safety.

Synergistic effect of r-GO on the mechanical, microstructural and high velocity impact behaviour of synthetic fibre reinforced NiTi intermetallic laminates

In this work, the effect of different concentration (0.5, 1 and 1.5 wt%) of reduced graphene oxide (r-GO) on the mechanical, microstructural and high velocity impact behaviours of novel fibre intermetallic laminates (FIL) made up of Nitinol foils and carbon/aramid fibres were experimentally investigated. The vacuum assisted resin infusion process is employed to fabricate the FILs with alternatively stacked woven fibres. The mechanical and chemical surface treatments were performed to ensure the improved adhesion and interaction between epoxy matrix and nitinol foils. The mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural and high velocity impact strengths were investigated for unreinforced, and r-GO reinforced FILs. Results revealed that the assimilation of r-GO fillers exhibit the capable of improving ultimate tensile strength of 16.5%, ultimate flexural strength of 13.9% and impact strength of 7.62% compared to unreinforced FILs. Improved tensile, flexural and impact strengths were obtained at the concentration of 1wt% r-GO infused FILs. On the contrary, the mechanical properties are deteriorated with further addition of r-GO fillers above the optimum levels. Moreover, the morphologies of surface treated Nitinol foils, nano filled epoxy matrix and the mechanical fractured surfaces were investigated with the aid of SEM to assimilate the failure mechanisms with respect to the inclusion of reduced-graphene oxide.

Stereoscopic Perception of Carbon Fiber Woven Fabrics Using Traditional Japanese Textile Designs

Stereoscopic Perception of Carbon Fiber Woven Fabrics Using Traditional Japanese Textile Designs

Mechanical Properties of Multi-Layer Woven E-Glass/Epoxy in Variable Fiber-Mat Directions

In this research, the epoxy resin was reinforced by (16 layers) of E-glass fiber woven mat (0^°/90^°) with 50% weight fraction and total thickness (3mm). Using 16 layers was due to the absence of any previous study that used this number of layers at this thickness. It is considered a modern study of this style because of the rapid development in modern engineering industries that required lightweight composite materials with high strength and small thickness, which are used in the aerospace industry aviation and other precision engineering industries. The composite material was cut into angles (0^°,5^°,15^°,30^°,45^°) by using CNC water jet culling machine. The tensile test was used to determine the strength of a material ratio to the fiber's direction and by using Vickers hardness to determine the hardness of composite and pure epoxy. The result of pure epoxy (matrix) has the lowest value in tensile strength (σ_UTS), Yong's modulus (E), 0.2% proof yield stress (σ_(0.2%)), modulus of toughness and toughness when compared with a composite material with adding 16 layers of "E-glass fibers". The direction of the fibers with (5^°) of composite has the highest strength, Young's modulus, and 0.2% proof yield stress when compared with (0^°,15^°,30^°,45^°) and pure epoxy. The improvement strength (10.8, 11.8, 9.8, 8.5, 8.3 times) at (0^°,5^°,15^°,30^°,45^°) respectively when compared with pure epoxy. The hardness of composite material improved (220%) relative to pure epoxy. The results show that the best improvement of composite material with fiber's angle (5^°) has the highest results compared with pure epoxy.

Taguchi optimized sliding wear behavior and hardness of novelGrewia optiva/Basalt fiber reinforced hybrid polyester composites

AbstractThis research paper investigated the hardness and tribological performance of novelGrewia optiva/Basalt fiber reinforced hybrid polymer composites. Two different configuration of hybrid composite that is, woven and chopped fiber reinforced composite are considered for the study. The chopped fiber configuration of the composite is further divided into two types based on fiber length and wt%. The fiber lengths studied are 6 and 12 mm while the wt% studied are 0, 6, and 12 wt%. Woven fiber reinforced composite is divided into five configurations based on wt% ofG. optivafiber with 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 wt%. In all configurations, maximum fiber content of 12 wt% is maintained. B6/GO6 composite exhibits minimum specific wear rate and maximum hardness among all the compositions. Wear experimental results are analyzed by Taguchi optimization technique and based on the five levels and four control factors (sliding velocity, fiber loading, sliding distance, and normal load) L25partial orthogonal array was suggested for the woven fiber reinforced composites. Fiber content is the main control parameter for hardness testing and L9orthogonal array was suggested according to four control factors and three levels.

Study on cutting performance of aramid fiber weaving material by linear shaped charge

In order to realize the precise fuze-warhead matching, the parachute belt needs to be cut to realize the separation of projectile and parachute. Combining experiment and numerical simulation, study on cutting different layers of aramid fiber weaving parachute belt with linear shaped charge are carried out. The results show that the copper linear shaped charge with linear density of 15 g/m can reliably cut 6 layers of aramid fiber weaving material, and the cross section of parachute belt are neat. EXPLO5 software is used to calculate the JWL equation of state parameters of bulk RDX with different densities. And orthogonal anisotropic softening model proves to be successful in numerical model to simulate the cutting process of aramid fiber weaving materials by linear shaped charge. The number of cutting layers is in good agreement with the experimental results. On this basis, simulations of the cutting performance of the explosive standoff and linear density are carried out. The results show that with charge density of 1.4 g/cm3, the cutting performance is the best with the explosive standoff of 1 mm, which can cut 7 layers aramid fiber weaving material. The maximum cutting depth increases almost linearly with the increase of charge density.The research in this paper can provide theoretical support for cutting flexible aramid fiber weaving materials by linear shaped charge.

Influence of thickness on impact resistance of glass fiber woven composite laminates

AbstractTo investigate the influence thickness has on the impact resistance of glass fiber woven composite laminates, a series of impact tests on 1–5 mm‐thick laminates impacted by the hemispherical‐nosed projectile on a one‐stage gas gun are conducted. The influence thickness has on the ballistic limit, energy absorption, failure mode, and damage mechanism of laminates is analyzed. The results show the ballistic limit velocity of 1–5 mm thickness to increase in a linear manner. It is found that the ballistic limit velocity of laminate 5 mm in thickness is 2.8 times greater than that of a laminate that is 1 mm in thickness. As the impact velocity of the projectile increases, the energy absorption of a laminated plate decreases to approximately 10% before becoming stable. Fiber tensile tearing and matrix cracking occurs on the back of the laminate, while the domain failure mode changes from fiber tensile fracture to shear as the velocity of the projectile increases.

Carbon Footprint and Water Footprint Assessment of Down Jackets

Down jackets consume a lot of energy and water, and emit greenhouse gases, wastewater and other pollutants during the life cycle. For example, melt spinning polyester fibre production, spinning, weaving, fabric dyeing and finishing are high-energy consumption processes. Down processing, fabric dyeing and finishing are typical water consumption and wastewater pollutant discharge processes. Carbon and water footprints are practical tools for evaluating the environmental impact of a product in its life cycle. This article quantified and evaluated the carbon and water footprints of the life cycle of 100 down jackets – from raw material production to recycling and disposal without transportation activities. The results showed that the carbon footprint of the 100 down jackets production was 2544.1 kgCO2e with recycling. As for the water footprint, it showed that fabric production had a great impact on water eutrophication and water scarcity. The water scarcity footprint of 100 down jackets production was 27.46 m3H2Ot, respectively. The water eutrophication footprint generated by producing 100 down jackets in new industry was 1.91 kgPO43−eq. The comprehensive assessment of carbon footprint and water footprint with the life cycle assessment polygon method indicated that the raw material production phase of down jackets generated a more significant impact on the environment than the use phase. The impact on the environment during the use phase is primarily the environmental load on water resources.

A deep learning empowered smart representative volume element method for long fiber woven composites

In response to the global trend of carbon reduction over the last few years, various industries, including the aviation and automobile industries, have gradually begun research, design, and production of carbon fiber composite materials. These have excellent mechanical properties, such as being lightweight, high strength, and of high rigidity, which provide weight reduction and energy savings in applications across many fields. When used as a load-beam structure, the weave pattern determines the primary mechanical properties of the composite material. Therefore, the production of diverse products and components can be carried out using different patterns of weaving and manufacturing according to an application’s requirements. The mechanical properties of woven fiber composites can be obtained by using simulation analysis software, which can reduce unnecessary waste during design and manufacturing. However, difficulties arise in the simulation analysis due to the complexity of the weaving method. With the continuous improvement of computer technology in recent years and the enormous amount of training data available, many research teams have begun to implement artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which has been widely used to overcome long-standing obstacles in many different fields. For example, the problems involved in the prediction of protein folding sequences and the prediction of the physics of structural materials have all been resolved by AI. We implement a convolutional neural network (CNN), a deep learning method, to establish a model that utilizes a representative volume element for the prediction of the mechanical properties of a woven fiber composite material. The predictive model significantly streamlines the computational complexity involved in analyzing woven composite materials, resulting in a substantial reduction in processing time compared to conventional methods. Unlike traditional finite element simulations, which necessitate intricate boundary conditions and interactions on a case-by-case basis, our research simplifies these complex procedures and accommodates a wide range of scenarios. This research offers substantial advantages for industrial manufacturing, particularly in the design and mass production of woven fiber composite materials.

Study the Mechanical Properties and Fatigue Effect of Multilayer Woven E-Glass/Epoxy Composite under Constant and Variable Loading

The present work studies the effect of adding woven E-glass fibers [0°/90°], 16 layers with 50% weight fraction to pure epoxy (matrix) on fatigue behavior under constant and variable loadings. The CNC water jet cutting machine was used to cut the composite samples with five fiber direction angles, such as (0°, 5°, 15°, 30°, and 45°). The tensile test was used to determine the composite material’s mechanical properties. The results showed that the composite material with 5° of fiber direction had the highest ultimate tensile stress, i.e., 353 MPa, and the highest Young's Modulus, i.e., 11940 MPa, compared to other samples with angles of (0°, 15°, 30°, 45°) of fiber direction. The sample with 5° angle was adopted in constant and variable fatigue loading tests. The fatigue test results under constant loading showed a 24.8 times fatigue strength improvement for composite material at 107 cycles compared to pure epoxy. The fatigue test under variable loading was conducted with two types of sequence loading program tests at a constant number of cycles at each stress level: high-low sequence loading with stress of 170-130 MPa with 10,000 and 20,000 cycles for each stress level and low-high sequence loading with stress 130-170 MPa with 10,000 and 20,000 cycle for each stress level loading and so on to failure. The results showed that the fatigue life under high-low sequence loading for both 10,000 and 20,000 cycles was less than that of the low-high sequence loading. Also, the results showed that Miner's rules were safe to calculate the damage of composite material used in this work where the damage was above one (D > 1).

Study on the physicomechanical, fracture-deformation, interface-adhesion, and water-absorption properties of twill fabric cotton-bamboo/epoxy composites

Natural fibre reinforced composites are being used in a variety of industries. Epoxy matrix composites reinforced with woven bamboo-cotton fibre has been fabricated via., hand lay-up technique and compression moulding technique. In the fabrication of the composite panels, the number of layers varied from 8 to 14 according to the weight of the fabric. The tensile, bending, impact, compression, water-absorption, and ILS properties for the developed composites have been tested or examined. SEM characterization was being used to examine the fractured morphology and assess interface-strength of the developed composites. It was found that increasing the number of fibre layers improved the composites' physico-mechanical properties. Due to the micro-voids, detachment, and hydrophilic nature of natural fibres, the cotton/bamboo twill fabric reinforced composites absorb the most water. In addition, the results have demonstrated that the fibre matrix debonding, which was actually the result of a weak-bonding amid the fibre and matrix, was the cause of the escalated water absorption behavior. Hence, the fabricated composites are suitable for the applications of moderate load bearing, including automobile body parts and structural components that require sufficient strength.

Influence of fibre on mechanical behavior of Ramie fibre /polystyrene hybrid composite

Natural fibre composites are now commonly regarded as a reinforcing component in polymer matrix composites. For their biodegradability, less density, and higher specific characteristics, polymer matrix-reinforced natural fibre composite materials are commonly employed in industry. The tensile characteristics of Ramie fibre woven fabrics and Polystyrene (PS) composite laminates were investigated and impact tests, to examine how the volume percentage of the fibre influenced them. In the beginning, the thermal-compression method was used to create composite laminates with varying fibre volume fractions by layering different fabrics. The mechanical characteristics of material are determined by conducting tensile, shear and biaxial tensile testing. Additionally, an effect hammer testing was done to determine the frequencies as well as restraining properties of stratified composite structures. The viscoelastic behavior of Ramie fabrics/PS composite laminates changes to elastic as the volume percentage of the fibres increases. Tensile strength is enhanced by increasing fibre content. On the other hand, the increased fibre volume has an effect on the natural frequency and damping ratio.

Functionalization of glass fiber woven fabrics by indium tin oxide (ITO) coatings for electromagnetic wave absorption

The effects of surface electrical conductivity and cascading order of ITO surface modified glass fiber woven fabrics (GFWF) on the electromagnetic (EM) behavior of hybrid type multilayered absorber structure were investigated. Additional objective was to create a design guideline for a multilayered absorbing structure according to the needs of specific EM wave absorber applications. For this purpose, indium tin oxide (ITO) sols were deposited on GFWFs by spray pyrolysis technique. The electrical conductivity of these conducting layers was controlled to incorporate EM wave absorbing characteristics to glass fabrics. Surface modified fabrics were then used as reinforcement in a hybrid type multilayered EM wave absorbing structure which is a combination of Jaumann and graded type absorbers effective in 8–12 GHz frequency range (X-band). The highest absorption performance design has been formed by cascading six ITO coated fabrics with gradually increasing electrical conductivity gradient from the front to back layer of the structure. The electromagnetic behavior of the multilayered absorber was tested both with and without metallic backing. The absorber design showed ∼−11 dB reflection loss and ∼−9 dB transmission loss corresponding to ∼80 % average absorption without metallic backing, while its reflection loss and average absorption values were ∼−10.5 dB and ∼93 %, respectively, with metallic backing. The front layer of the multilayered structure with the lowest surface electrical conductivity provided impedance matching between air and receiving surface of the structure minimizing reflection, where the gradual increase in surface conductivity of the layers towards the back provided balanced internal reflection and transmission leading to high overall EM wave absorption. Consequently, by controlling the grading of the surface conductivity of the layers through the thickness, responses of the absorbers can be adjusted to provide tailored characteristics for the required EM wave absorption levels.

Production and Testing of Bamboo Composite for Door of a Three-Wheeled Vehicle

Natural fiber reinforced composite material has recently attracted interest due to its low density, low cost, acceptable specific characteristics, ease of separation, improved energy recovery, CO2 neutrality, biodegradability, and renewable nature. The goal of this paper is to design and construct a three-wheeled Bajaj door panel using composite materials reinforced with bamboo fiber. Design, manufacture of the component, and experimental techniques are used to meet the goals given. The bamboo plant is the raw material chosen for this thesis project. The matrix material (polyester resin) and hardener used in this investigation, as well as the woven bamboo fiber strip that has been used as reinforcement, were all obtained from local markets. Bamboo fiber that has been chemically treated with 5% NaOH and 95% purified water is used. Keeping in mind the needs of varied testing conditions and characterization standards, polyester resin and E-glass fibers were simply stirred together by hand for 15 minutes. The mixture was then put into the molds. In three distinct orientations (0°, 90°, and 0/90°), composite samples of bamboo fiber were created. In order for the part to respond to axial loads, shear loads, and side loads, it may need 0°, 45°, and 90° plies, respectively. The paper model’s 0° orientation was chosen in accordance with the findings of the samples’ analysis. Due to the direction of the applied load, it affects the strength design requirements. Based on the findings of the experimental data examination, it was determined that the respective values for tensile, compression, bending, and water absorption were 160 MPa (0°), 2709.2 MPa (90°), 110 N (0/90°), and 4%, respectively. The geometric model of the door panel on the three-wheel Bajaj vehicle’s door was designed. Based on these findings, it is suggested that the new exterior structural car door panel of the three-wheel Bajaj Compact 205 model be made of composite materials made of bamboo fiber reinforced with polyester and having strength of 160 MPa.