Fibre stacking sequence and mechanical characterization of polymer hybrid composites: An experimental study

With rapid development in the field of polymer-reinforced composites, the trend has shifted towards hybridization. Natural fibres have been found to have poor water resistance and synthetic fibres like glass fibres are hybridized to enhance the mechanical strength of individual fibres. In this regard, carbon fibre has good strength but poor damage tolerance, whereas kevlar fibre has a high strain capacity and good damage tolerance. Glass fibres have high toughness and are less expensive. Meanwhile, basalt fibre is cheaper than carbon fibre and stronger than glass fibre. To obtain optimized results of costs and superior mechanical properties, these fibres can be blended into hybrid laminates. This research work involves examining the significance of hybridization and as well as the stacking sequence of fibre-reinforced composites. The hand layup method was implemented to produce five different types of composite laminates containing ten layers each. The micro structural analysis of the fracture surface was conducted. The study revealed that the stacking sequence plays a tremendous role in enhancing the strength of polymer composites. From the test results, it was found that sample A exhibited tensile load of 15428 N, impact strength of 5.8 J and flexural strength of 677 N which was maximum compared with other samples B, C, D and E. It was found that the hybrids produced with kevlar and carbon fibres as the outer layer exhibited a significant effect on the overall composite laminate and showed more tensile, flexural, impact strength, and hardness.