Thermal analysis of Kevlar/basalt reinforced hybrid polymer composite

Use of lightweight composite materials in automobile applications such as doors, bonnets, and bumpers and also the utilization of composite materials in building insulations require superior mechanical and thermal properties. This study attempts to determine the thermal conductivity, linear thermal expansion coefficient, heat deflection temperature and thermo gravimetric analysis of hybrid composite containing reinforcement fibers stacked in seven different combinations in an epoxy matrix as per ASTM standards. Each composite contained two different fibre materials, i.e., Kevlar and basalt. The study revealed that the stacked layers of basalt fibers had more influence on the thermal properties. It was observed that the hybrid composite made of least quantity layers of Kevlar and most of basalt exhibited the maximum thermal conductance of 0.219 W mK(-1), while with vice versa laminate developed 0.191 W mK(-1) which was least thermal conductance. The composition prepared by made Kevlar as core layer and basalt as its outer layers exhibited coefficient of linear thermal expansion above 11.5 x 10(-6)/degrees C. Maximum decomposition weight loss of 76.92% occurred in the composition prepared by keeping basalt as core and Kevlar as outer layer. The differential thermal graph showed that the said hybrid composite exhibited the peak decomposition rate of 1wt.%/degrees C. The thermal properties of the laminate prepared by keeping two layers of Kevlar sandwiched between the basalt were excellent when compared to other six hybrid composites investigated in this study.