Circular Composite Tubes Under Quasi-Static Axial Loading

A. Ravindran., Arjun (2018) Circular Composite Tubes Under Quasi-Static Axial Loading. Project Report. Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Composite structures are extensively used in the aerospace and automotive industry, where high amounts of force are involved. Manufacturers are currently venturing into green and ecologically friendly materials such as plant-based fibres and synthetic-plant fibre hybrids to improve crashworthiness of composites. However, these composites still exhibit poor energy absorption characteristics compared to conventional load bearing materials such as metal and have to be improved by altering parameters during the fabrication process. This experiment aims to determine the effects of parameters, specifically triggering mechanism and fibre lay-up sequence on the energy absorption capability of fibre reinforced composites. In this study cross-ply of unidirectional glass (G), banana (B), and glass-banana hybrid fibre reinforced composite tubes were investigated. The composites were fabricated with different fibre lay-up sequence, and each fibre sequence features three different triggering mechanism. Composite specimens were fabricated using the bladder assisted moulding method which utilised a circular tube with 1000 mm in length and 57.30 mm outer diameter. Specimens are 100 mm in length and have an outer diameter of 57.30 mm. Triggering mechanisms tested are flat-end, 45° chamfer and the 4-petal tulip. The specimens are fabricated with GGG lay-up, BBB lay-up, and two hybrid GBG and BGB lay-up configurations. A quasi-static axial crushing test was performed at 10 mm/min with a 150 kN capacity universal testing machine Instron 5585. From the test, it was found that triggered specimens experienced better crushing performance, with the tulip trigger achieving higher values of mean load, specific energy absorption and crush force efficiency compared to the flat-ended and 45° chamfered specimens. In terms of fibre lay-up sequence, hybridisation between banana and glass fibres (GBG and BGB sequence) exhibited better values of parameters tested and displayed stable and progressive crushing during the test.

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