Investigation of the mechanical behaviour of hybrid fiber reinforced composite with aluminium laminates

Abstract The present study investigates the mechanical characteristics of a hybrid fiber-reinforced composite with aluminium laminates (HFRCAL). The hybrid composite specimens were fabricated by hand layup method including the epoxy as a Matrix material, with Al6061-T6 as the outer layers, while Kevlar-29, carbon fiber, basalt fiber, and E-glass fiber act as hybrid reinforcing laminates with varying order of arrangement. The prepared laminate composites were tested for performance under tensile, flexural, and impact loading conditions. Three combinations of the laminate composites were tested, namely the Al/K/C/E/B/K/Al (Al+5KH+Al), Al/C/B/E/K/C/Al (Al+5CH+Al), and Al/B/C/E/K/B/Al (Al+5BH+Al) composition laminates. Among the tested specimens, it was found that the Al+5KH+Al laminate composite exhibited the highest yield strength of 220 MPa, and Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 245 MPa. These were 11.53% and 11.2% higher than those of Al+5CH+Al, while Al+5BH+Al exhibited the lowest UTS of 202 MPa. During flexural loading, the Al+5CH+Al showed the highest flexural strength of 305.6 MPa which was 35.5% higher than that of Al+5BH+Al and 38.33% higher than the flexural strength of Al+5KH+Al. The impact strength of Al+5KH+Al was higher by 5.74% and 11.73% of Al+5CH+Al and Al+5BH+Al respectively.