Mechanical and impact characterisation of flax and basalt fibre vinylester composites and their hybrids

Abstract

The present experimental investigation is aimed at performing an analysis of mechanical and impact properties of flax and basalt fibres and their hybrids using a vinylester resin to produce reinforced thermosetting composites. Laminates were fabricated by hand lay-up and resin infusion. Cure processes were accelerated and controlled by applying heat and pressure in autoclave. Tensile, flexural and falling weight impact tests were carried out, the latter with energies of up to 40 J. The results indicated that hybrid laminates did not mostly offer properties to the level predicted by an application of the rule-of-mixtures, especially as regards flexural performance. On the other side, advantages provided concerned in particular reducing the brittleness of basalt offering some evidence of plastic behaviour, especially related to the fact of flax fibre reinforced laminated providing a quite long period at quasi constant load during impact tests, therefore resulting in delayed failure, while extensive damage is produced. The results tend to challenge the idea that basalt/flax fibre hybrid laminates would offer a good performance only with the presence of basalt fibres in the outer layers and would suggest the possible adoption in future of more complex stacking sequences, involving intercalation of flax and basalt layers.

Damage analysis for low velocity impacted composite laminates using acoustic emission technique

“…As a final point, the proposed AE methodology can be used as a capable tool for damage evaluation under low velocity impact events. Potential future studies include the validation of the same technique on green composites, given their recent rising interest from industry and literature [25][26][27][28][29][30].…”

Numerical study of hybrid composites containing basalt fibres under flexural loading

“…The hybrid composites reinforced by bidirectional flax and basalt fibre fabrics were simulated with the developed model. The material properties and experimental procedure can be found in [21]. The flexural moduli and strengths from the experiments and simulation are shown in Fig.…”

“…Hybrid composites containing basalt and natural fibres were also studied [14,[21][22][23]. Petrucci et al [14] studied the mechanical properties of hybrid epoxy composites reinforced by basalt, glass, flax and hemp fibres.…”

“…It was found that the mechanical performance of the hybrid composites was higher than the hemp and flax fibre composites but lower than that of the basalt fibre composites. Fragassa et al [21] studied the bidirectional composites reinforced by flax and/or basalt fibre fabrics. Nisini et al [22] studied hybrid epoxy composites reinforced by basalt, carbon and flax fibres in two different stacking sequences.…”

Acoustic emission monitoring of thin ply hybrid composites under repeated quasi-static tensile loading

“…Polymer matrix composites consist of fibres in a polymer matrix, where the high modulus fibres [1] overcome the low modulus and temperature limitations of the polymer; be reinforced with synthetic or natural fibers [2][3][4][5]. These reinforced polymers are strong and stiff and they have high specific strength and specific stiffness.…”