Investigation on the Influence of the Constituent Elements in PMC Laminates on Inter Laminar Shear Strength (ILSS) and Impact Strength

He behavior and response of the laminates under varied modes of loading depends on its constituent elements. The degradation and failure of laminates depends on the responses of the fiber and matrix of the composites .Considering the visco elastic nature of most of the polymer matrix composites, it is imperative to measure the extent of matrix load bearabilty, in particular against shear and impact conditions. While designing and analysis of the laminates that are used for high performance applications, like in Radome, ILSS and impact strength are the two significant properties that are matrix dependent and hence are often measured. Further enhancement of the stiffness of the matrix could be attained by dispersing second phase fillers like, glass spheres and fumed silica. Critical properties that influence the matrix in general viz., ILSS and Impact strength, were investigated under varying material constraints, like fiber diameters, weaving pattern of fibers, Stacking sequences and the number of the plies across the laminates. It was found that unidirectional fibers with higher gsm as used in thin cross plied laminates filled with fillers in the nano regime, found to exhibit better performances than their other counterparts.