Coupling process / mechanical characterization of sandwich materials Metal / Hybrid composite based on jute fabrics

In current study the mechanical properties of 3D woven jute reinforced and hybrid 3D woven jute reinforced FMLs were investigated. The four-layered 3D woven reinforcement was made with jute yarn using four types of interlocking patterns e.g. Orthogonal Through Thickness OTT and Orthogonal Layer to Layer OLL interlocking. The vacuum infusion technique was used for the fabrication of FMLs made with 3D woven jute reinforcement. After the optimization of 3D woven reinforcement the hybrid reinforced FMLs were developed in which OTT 3D woven fabric was sandwiched between 2D woven skin. Four different kinds of fibres were used to make 2D woven skin e.g. jute, aramid, carbon, and glass while three different kinds of matrix were employed, e.g. epoxy, PVB and PP. The compression hot press was used to develop hybrid reinforced FMLs. Aluminium used to make all FMLs was anodized before using for fabrication. The adhesive properties were investigated to check the quality of surface treatment, metal-composites bonding and effect of fibres and matrix. Both monotonic and dynamic properties were also investigated. The adhesive properties were characterized using t-peel and floating roller peel tests. The monotonic properties were analyzed using tensile and flexural tests. The low velocity impact performance was determined using drop weight low velocity impact test. The results showed that the anodized aluminium surface had high surface free energy so the better wetting of aluminium can be achieved by anodizing as compared to other type of surface preparations. The adhesive bonding analysis results showed that the delamination properties were mainly influenced by the nature of adhesive material rather than the type of structures of reinforcement. The nature of the matrix also influences the type of failure as with the epoxy the dominant failure was cohesive while with thermoplastic matrix it changed to adhesive and intra-laminar failure. The plasticity and ductility of matrix influenced the final properties more than the type of failure, in spite of cohesive failure of epoxy the thermoplastic matrix had more delamination force. The tensile and flexural properties of OTT 3D woven jute reinforced FMLs were higher than the OLL 3D woven reinforced FMLs due to the higher metal volume fraction, this was possible due to tighter construction of OTT fabric. The tensile and flexural properties of hybrid reinforced composites and FMLs were influenced by the type of matrix and material of 2D skin. The overall higher properties were achieved with an epoxy matrix followed by PVB matrix. The PVB-based FMLs showed that their properties were comparable with the epoxy. The flexural test showed that hybrid FMLs based on PP were failed prematurely due to delamination between synthetic skin and 3D woven core. Both epoxy and PVB showed better impregnation of the reinforcement unlike PP in which only mechanical interlocking was seen. The dynamic impact properties of hybrid composites and FMLs showed that the energy dissipation characteristics were influenced by matrix and hybridization of reinforcement.