Crushing response of composite corrugated tubes to quasi-static axial loading

This paper is devoted to examine the crushing behaviour of axially crushed composite corrugated tubes. Two types of composites were tested, namely, carbon fibre/epoxy in a filament form and glass fibre/epoxy in woven roving form. A series of experiments was conducted for tubes with corrugation angle (β) ranging from 10° to 40°. Typical failure histories of their failure mechanisms are presented and discussed. The results showed that the crushing behaviour of composite corrugated tube is found to be sensitive to the change in corrugation angle and fibre type. Carbon/epoxy tubes with corrugation angle of 40° displayed the highest specific energy absorption capability. It is also found that introducing of corrugation could significantly enhance the energy absorption capability of composite tubes in a uniform manner.     

Performance analysis of fibre metal laminated thin conical frusta under axial compression

The crushing behaviour and energy absorption capacity of frustrated conical shells made-up of bare aluminium (AC) and E-glass fibre/epoxy resin composite overwrapped aluminium (CWAC) was studied under quasi-static axial compression condition. Using spinning process, the hollow frustrated conical specimens were fabricated with the help of wooden conical shaped mandrill with semi apical angles of 16° and 21°. Thin commercial aluminium sheets of average thickness 0.87 mm were obtained for making aluminium conical specimen. CWAC frusta were fabricated by wrapping glass fibre/epoxy resin over aluminium conical shell to form hybrid composite with required thickness by hand layup process. Quasi-static axial compression load was applied over top end of the specimen with cross head speed as 2 mm/min using Universal Testing Machine (UTM). From the experiment results, the load–deformation characteristics of different AC and CWAC frusta were investigated. Energy absorption capacities or crashworthiness and mode of collapse of all models of AC and CWAC are determined from load–deformation curve and the same was validated with finite element analysis package ABAQUS®.     

Effect of CF/GF fibre hybrid on impact properties of multi-axial warp knitted fabric composite materials

The multi-axial warp knitted fabric (MWK) is a useful reinforcement for composite. Higher mechanical performance resulted from no crimp of the fibre bundle is achieved compared with the general textile composites. For the fibre bundle of MWK, only one type of reinforcement fibre among glass, carbon fibre bundle, and so on has been selected. The mechanical properties and the cost of MWK composite depend on the feature of the fibre bundle. In order to extend the applicability of composite, the concept of “fibre hybrid composite” was applied into the MWK composite. Two kinds of fibre bundle; carbon and glass, were used in the 0/90 multi-axial warp knitted fabric. As the fibre hybrid composite; the inter-layer hybrid composite in which each layer was fabricated by carbon and glass fibre bundle respectively was investigated. Impact properties of composite were investigated by using drop weight impact tests. In case of unsaturated polyester, total energy and progressive energy of inter-layer fibre hybrid composite realized the highest value in all specimens. However, in case of epoxy resin, inter-layer hybrid composite didn’t realize the highest value in all specimens. The difference in energy absorption capability could be described with the fracture mechanism.     

Some aspects of the fatigue behaviour of fibre reinforced thermosetting resins

This paper reports the continuing work to establish the fatigue response of commercial fibre reinforced plastics now being specified by designers, particularly those materials using thermosetting resins as the matrix.

Results are reported of the flexural fatigue of balanced needled fabrics and of the tensile fatigue of filament wound E-glass and R-glass rings. Only a small dependence on the ratio of the minimum to the maximum stress (R-ratio) has been observed for flexural fatigue between R = 0·05 and R = 0·6.

It is shown that the fatigue behaviour of a wide variety of glass fibre reinforced composites (unidirectional/bidirectional, long and short fibres, epoxy and polyester resins), subject to either tensile or flexural loading, can be rationalised, like others have done, by normalising the maximum fatigue stress with respect to the corresponding ultimate tensile or flexural strength, obtained at an equivalent strain rate.     

The use of wire mesh–epoxy composite for enhancing the flexural performance of concrete beams

This paper presents a study of an ongoing research project on the use of new composites for enhancement of the performance of concrete beams. A plain concrete beam was externally bonded with wire mesh–epoxy composite using one to five wire mesh layers. The flexural performance of the beam specimens bonded with wire mesh layers was compared with the beam specimens bonded with carbon fibre as well as a hybrid of wire mesh–epoxy–carbon fibre composite. The test results show that the use of wire mesh with epoxy is an efficient way to improve the flexural performance of concrete beam specimens. The increase in wire mesh layers significantly enhances the flexural strength, cracking behaviour and energy absorption capability. In comparison with carbon fibre, wire mesh–epoxy composite is more efficient in flexural strength and ductility. In addition, it was found that a concrete beam bonded with a hybrid wire mesh–epoxy–carbon fibre composite has significantly more energy absorption capability compared to specimens bonded with only carbon fibre.     

Composite sandwich structures with nested inserts for energy absorption application

Polymer composite sandwich structures are promising candidate structures for reducing vehicle mass, thereby improving the fuel economics. Nonetheless, to fully explore this material as the primary structure and energy absorber in vehicles, it is important to understand the energy absorption capability of this material. Hence, in the present work, comprehensive experimental investigation on the response of composite sandwich structures to quasi-static compression has been carried out. The crashworthiness parameters, namely the peak force, absorbed crash energy, specific absorbed energy, average crushing force and crush force efficiency of various types of composite sandwich structures were investigated in a series of edgewise axial compression tests. The tested composite sandwich specimens were fabricated from glass and carbon fiber with epoxy resin. Four distinct modes of failure were observed and recorded. The primary mode of failure observed was progressive crushing with high energy absorption capability. The optimized design in this study had a specific energy absorption capability of 47.1 kJ/kg with a good crush force efficiency of 0.77, higher than conventional metals.     

Effect of fiber orientation on energy absorption characteristics of glass cloth/epoxy composite tubes under axial quasi-static and impact crushing condition

The collapse characteristics and energy absorption capability of composite tubes made of 759/5224 woven glass cloth/epoxy with different fiber orientations were studied in the present article under axial quasi-static and impact crushing condition. The effects of fiber orientation and loading condition on the crushing modes and energy absorption capability were discussed in detail. The fiber orientation could be found to have significant influences on energy absorption performance. Based on results, the energy absorption capability could be improved by selecting proper fiber orientation. The energy absorption capability in impact crushing tests could be found to be slightly lower than that in quasi-static crushing tests.     

Fatigue damage in a unidirectional SiC/Al composite due to push-pull and zero-pull loading

Axial fatigue behaviour due to fully reversible and zero-tension cyclic loads on specimens cut from a 5 mm thick panel of a unidirectional SiC/A1 composite has been investigated at room temperature. The panel contained 40 vol.% SiC fibres (SCS-2), sandwiched between 32 layers of A1 6061 foils, which were bonded together by hot-pressing. The loading was always parallel to the fibres. Steady hysteresis loops were observed in the stress-strain plot after about 3 cycles of loading. A plot of S/N curves showed that at load ratio R = 0 the fatigue strength of the composite was about 3 times higher than that of the monolithic matrix metal. At R = −1, however, the fatigue strength of the composite was even lower than that of the matrix metal. At both R = 0 and R = −1, the composite suffered large modulus losses (about 15%) at cycles well before the final failure. At R = 0 the modulus loss involved fibre breakage and matrix cracks, which were transverse as well as parallel to the loading direction, while at R = −1 it involved delamination cracks and barrelling of outer layers. Fractography after the final failure at R = 0 showed secondary cracks and fibre pull-out.     

Effect of fibre angle on fracture properties of unidirectional flyash filled FRP composites

The fracture properties of unidirectional flyash filled and unfilled glass fibre and carbon fibre reinforced epoxy resin composites are studied in relation to the variation of width ratio (a/W) and fibre angle. The results indicate that the fracture toughness, fracture surface energy and change in elastic strain energy are dependent on the width ratio but the effect of fibre angle between 30 and 60° is not very dependent on fracture properties due to the arrest of the crack path in fibre composites by flyash particles.     

The fracture energy of hybrid carbon and glass fibre composites

The fracture energy of a model carbon fibre/glass fibre/epoxy resin hybrid composite system has been evaluated as a function of the carbon fibre/glass fibre ratio. Work of fracture measurements were less than a rule of mixtures prediction and a pronounced negative synergistic effect was observed at high carbon fibre and high glass fibre contents. Fibre debonded lengths and fibre pull-out lengths for the carbon and glass fibres were accurately measured using a projection microscope technique. Models of microscopic fracture behaviour, together with these measurements, were successful in quantitatively describing the observed fracture behaviour of the hybrid fibrous composites. It was found that post-debond friction energy provided a major contribution to the fracture energy of the glass fibres. The post debond sliding mechanism was also shown to be primarily responsible for the non-linear behaviour of the work of fracture of the hybrid composite.     

Fracture behaviour of fly-ash filled FRP composites

The major objective of this study was to determine the fracture toughness and fracture surface energy of epoxy, epoxy/fly-ash, epoxy/carbon fibre, epoxy/carbon fibre/fly-ash, epoxy/glass fibre and epoxy/glass fibre/fly-ash composites. The quality of composite specimens was evaluated by the ultrasonic method. The results show that a fly-ash particle can arrest the crack path and thus improve the fracture properties of fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) composites. The results of this study have further significance in view of the fact that fly-ash powder is far cheaper than carbon fibre, glass fibre and epoxy resin.     

The effect of fibre content on the mechanical properties of glass fibre mat/polypropylene composites

Glass fibre mat was prepared by the fibre mat-manufacturing machine developed in our laboratory. Glass fibre mat reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites were fabricated with the variation of glass fibre content. Tensile, flexural and high rate impact test was conducted to investigate the effect of glass fibre content on the mechanical properties of the glass fibre mat/PP composite. Deformation and fracture behaviour of the glass fibre mat/PP composites was investigated to study the relationship with the mechanical property data. The tensile and flexural modulus increased with the increment of glass fibre content. However, the tensile and flexural strengths exhibited maximum values and showed a decrease at the higher glass fibre content than this point. The impact absorption energy also exhibited a similar result with the tensile and flexural property data.     

Advanced composite sandwich structure design for energy absorption applications: Blast protection and crashworthiness

This paper describes an experimental investigation on the response of composite sandwich structures with tubular inserts to quasi-static compression. The performance parameters, namely the peak load, absorbed crash energy, specific energy absorption; average crushing load and crush force efficiency were evaluated. The composite sandwich specimens were fabricated from glass fiber, polystyrene foam and epoxy resin. The primary mode of failure observed was progressive crushing with the composites exhibiting high energy absorption capabilities and high crushes force efficiency. The mechanism of progressive crushing of the sandwich structures and its relation to the energy absorption capabilities was deliberated. Furthermore, a statistical analysis was performed to investigate the effects of the design variables and also to determine if there were interactions between these variables. Such information is vital in the design of polymer composite sandwich structures as energy absorbers.     

Investigation on effect of fibre hybridization and orientation on mechanical behaviour of natural fibre epoxy composite

Nowadays bio fibre composites play a vital role by replacing conventional materials used in automotive and aerospace industries owing to their high strength to weight ratio, biodegradability and ease of production. This paper aims to find the effect of fibre hybridization and orientation on mechanical behaviour of composite fabricated with neem, abaca fibres and epoxy resin. Here, three varieties of composites are fabricated namely, composite 1 which consists of abaca fibre and glass fibre, composite 2, which consists of neem fibre and glass fibre, whereas composite 3 consists of abaca, neem fibres and glass fibres. In all the above three varieties, fibres are arranged in three types of orientations namely, horizontal (type I), vertical (type II) and 45\(^{\circ }\) inclination (type III). The result shows that composites made up of abaca and neem fibres with inclined orientation (45\(^{\circ }\)) have better mechanical properties when compared with other types of composites. In addition, morphological analysis is carried out using scanning electron microscope to know the fibre distribution, fibre pull out, fibre breakage and crack propagation on tested composites.     

Quasi-static crushing behaviour of hybrid and non-hybrid natural fibre composite solid cones

A comprehensive experimental investigation of the quasi-static axial crushing of hybrid and non-hybrid natural fibre/polyester composite solid cones between flat platens has been carried out. The composite solid cones were fabricated from two types of natural fibres namely oil palm fibre and coir fibre and different vertex angles varied from 0° to 60°. Typical load-deformation histories are presented and discussed. Crashworthiness parameters such as load carrying capacity; energy absorption capability and failure mechanism have been discussed. The results presented in this study will help us to understand the behaviour and characteristics of natural fibre composite as a filler material.     

Impact damage response of natural stitched single lap-joint in composite structures

In this paper the damage behaviour of natural stitched composite single lap-joints are investigated under low velocity impact loading conditions. For this study, the laminated hybrid composite beams were pinned using Flax yarns before curing process. The Charpy impact test was chosen to study the energy absorbing capability of single lap composite joints. Composite beams were fabricated from combination of glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy composites. It was shown that composite beams which are stitched through the thickness are able to absorb more energy in comparison with adhesive bonded composite joints in the hybrid composite beams. The Charpy impact test of stitched composite single lap joint was also simulated by finite element analysis using software LS-DYNA and the results verified with relevant experimental data.     

Energy absorption in composite stiffeners

The energy absorption behaviour of composite stiffeners subjected to axial compression has been investigated. A semi-empirical analysis methodology has been developed for prediction of the energy absorption capability of composite stiffeners based on crush tests of flat plate specimens and an understanding of the fundamentals of the energy absorption process. Flat plate, angle and channel specimens were fabricated from T650-35/F584 graphite/epoxy plain-weave fabric using five different lay-ups that consisted of varying percentages of 45° and 0° plies. The specimens were crush tested under axial compression, and measured levels of sustained crushing stress were compared with model predictions.     

Fabrication of radar absorbing structure (RAS) using GFR-nano composite and spring-back compensation of hybrid composite RAS shells

The fiber-reinforced composite materials have been advanced to provide excellent mechanical and electromagnetic properties. The radar absorbing structure (RAS) is such an example that satisfies both radar absorbing property and structural characteristics. The absorbing efficiency of RAS can be obtained from selected materials having special absorptive properties and structural characteristics such as multi-layer and stacking sequence.

In this research, to develop a RAS, three-phase composites consisted of {glass fiber}/{epoxy}/{nano size carbon materials} were fabricated, and their radar absorbing efficiency was measured on the X-band frequency range (8–12 GHz). Although some of GFR (Glass Fiber–Reinforced)-nano composites showed outstanding absorbing efficiency, during their manufacturing process, undesired thermal deformation (so called spring-back) was produced. The main cause of spring-back is thought to be temperature drop from the cure temperature to the room temperature. In order to reduce spring-back, two types of hybrid composite shells were fabricated with {carbon/epoxy} and {glass/epoxy} composites. Their spring-back was measured by experiment and predicted by finite element analysis (ANSYS). To fabricate desired final geometry, a spring-back compensated mold was designed and manufactured. Using the mold, hybrid composite shells with good dimensional tolerance were fabricated.     

Modelling of damage and failure of glass/epoxy composite plates subject to impact fatigue

An investigation has been carried out to study the impact fatigue damage of glass/epoxy laminated composites. Accumulation of damage, such as matrix cracking, delamination and fibre breakage, with repeated impact of the composite material may reduce the overall stiffness. These damage modes have been combined in a very complicated way to describe damage growth and fracture. A model is proposed for characterising the damage as a function of the normalised impact number. The scalar variable D, which characterises the material damage, is written as a function of the life duration β, using a modified form of the Mankowsky empirical law [Int J Solids Struct 32(11) (1995) 1607]. The macroscopic failure mode and the internal damage in laminated specimens of glass/epoxy as a consequence of impact fatigue are analysed at different levels of incident impact energy. The impact fatigue tests have been conducted on an apparatus built in our laboratory.     

Crushing behavior of laterally compressed composite elliptical tubes: Experiments and predictions using artificial neural networks

Composite materials have been increasingly used in the automobile industry for weight saving and part integration purposes. In this regard, composite elliptical tubes have been effectively employed as energy absorber devices. This increases the need for accurate and simple prediction techniques to optimize these structures.

The present work deals with the implementation of artificial neural networks (ANN) technique in the prediction of the crushing behavior and energy absorption characteristics of laterally loaded glass fiber/epoxy composite elliptical tubes. Predicted results are compared with actual experimental data in terms of load carrying capacity and energy absorption capability showing good agreement. This shows that ANN techniques could effectively be used to predict the response of collapsible composite energy absorber devices subjected to different loading conditions. As is the case for experimental findings, the predictions obtained using ANN also show the significant effect of the ellipticity ratio on the crushing behavior of laterally loaded tubes.