Evaluation of Flexural and Interlaminar Shear Strength of Laminated Hybrid Composites

The important material properties associated with laminated hybrid composites are the flexural and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS). These properties are relating the amount of bending and shear stress of a specific material will handle before individual plies fail. In this study the influence of stacking sequence on the flexural and interlaminar shear properties of the fabricated laminated hybrid composites, unidirectional carbon (UD) and bi-directional glass (BD) fabric/epoxy, has been investigated experimentally. The hybrid laminates were fabricated by hand lay-up technique with a total of 12 plies, by varying the position of carbon layers so as to obtain three different stacking sequences. The specimen preparation and the experimentations were carried out according to the ASTM standards. The result indicates by placing the carbon layers away from the neutral axis and at the neutral axis enhances the both flexural and interlaminar shear properties significantly. The failure modes of all specimens were investigated.