Thermal buckling of sisal and glass hybrid woven composites: Experimental investigation

Abstract

The influence of hybridization of sisal woven fabric with glass fabric on thermal buckling behaviour of composite beam has been analysed experimentally. Initially, non-uniform heating (upward-downward, downward and downward-upward) has been achieved by positioning infrared (IR) heaters at the chosen locations along the longitudinal direction of the composite beam and deflection of the composite beam in the lateral direction measured through LabVIEW program and linear variable displacement transducer. Experiment results indicate that deflection behaviour of the beams under thermal load is entirely different from the deflection under mechanical load. The beams exhibited snap-through deflection behaviour with multiple inflection points due to the thermal load. Results revealed that the sisal woven fabric reinforced composite has high deflection under thermal load than hybrid composites. High elastic modulus and sandwiching effect as a result of hybridization provides more resistance against thermal deflection of the hybrid composites. Furthermore, the layering sequence and type of heating also influences the performance of the composites under thermal load. Results revealed that compared to cross ply sisal composite, an angle ply composite enhanced the resistance against deflection. Synergy effect of sandwiching and ply lay-up enhances resistance against deflection of the composite beams under non-uniform thermal load.

Keywords

• Thermal buckling
• Natural fibre
• Sandwich composite
• Layering sequence
• Non-uniform heating