Effect of through-the-thickness position of aluminum wire mesh on the mechanical properties of GFRP/Al hybrid composites

Glass laminate aluminum reinforced epoxy (GLARE) mixes an extremely thin ply of aluminum wire mesh layers with epoxy strengthened with fibers to create a hybrid composite laminates. During this investigation, plain E-glass fiber/epoxy specimens in addition to specimens with epoxy laminates reinforced with both E-glass/fiber, and wire meshes of aluminum were created. Meshes made of aluminum wire were used to increase the toughness of the E-glass fiber/epoxy combination. Tensile, bending, and hardness tests were performed to see how inserting Al wire meshes through thickness of the specimen in place of glass fiber layers affected the material mechanical characteristics. According to the outcomes from results, an influence on strength, toughness, and ductility of laminates due to using Al wire mesh instead of glass fiber. The characteristics of the generated hybrid laminates were greatly influenced by the varying position and the orienting direction of the aluminum wire mesh ply. Inclusion of Al wire mesh in the outer layers significantly made deterioration in material tensile strength and bending strength. The tensile strain also bending strain, on the other hand, were improved by 16.95 percent and 117 percent, respectively. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

GLARE is a hybrid composite laminate that combines extremely thin ply of aluminum wire mesh layers with epoxy strengthened fibers. The study found that replacing glass fiber layers with aluminum wire mesh affected the mechanical characteristics of the laminate, particularly enhancing toughness and ductility. Additionally, the position and orienting direction of the aluminum wire mesh significantly influenced the properties of the hybrid laminate.