EFFECT OF FIBER ORIENTATION ON THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF E-GLASS FIBRE REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITE MATERIALS

This paper deals with the study of the influence of the stacking sequence lay-up configuration on Tensile, Flexural, Compressive and Interlaminar shear properties (ILSS) of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites. The following laminates were produced by Hand lay-up Technique with vacuum assistance for this study: [0°]s, [90°]s, [0°/90°]s and randomly oriented [45°/45°]s. The composites, with similar overall fiber volume fraction (Vf=56.7%), were evaluated based on four tests: Tensile, Flexural, Compressive and Interlaminar shear tests. Besides, all these specimens were tested as per ASTM standards in hydraulic servo material Testing machine was measured mechanical properties with an electronic extensometer. The experimental results show that a significant improvement of mechanical properties in the unidirectional at [0°]s laminate presented tensile strength, Flexural strength, compressive strength and interlaminar shear strength almost thrice that of [90°]s. whereas the [45°/45°]s samples presented higher in-plane shear strength in short beam test used due to its random fiber orientation The shear modulus was higher for the composites [0°]s, as expected due to the longitudinally oriented fibers[0°]s. High-resolution Scanning Electron Microscope (HR-SEM) study was carried out to analyze the interfacial characteristics of E-glass/epoxy materials internal structure of the fractured surfaces, porosity, fiber damage, matrix crack, bonding/debonding of fiber/matrix and delamination layers of specimens