Experimental investigation on buckling and free vibration behavior of woven natural fiber fabric composite under axial compression

Influence of axial compression load on buckling and free vibration characteristics of natural fiber fabric polymer composite beam is analyzed experimentally. Critical buckling strength, free vibration frequencies and modal loss factors are obtained and analyzed. It is found that buckling strength increases with number of layers of fabric in composite. It is also observed that weaving pattern of the fabric influences buckling strength of the composite and basket type woven fabric enhances the buckling strength compared to plain and herringbone woven fabric composites. Sandwich composites with glass fiber fabric facing layer and natural fiber fabric as core layer having higher buckling strength. Free vibration frequency reduces with increase in axial compression load while modal damping factor increases in the pre-buckling region. However, this behavior reverses in the post-buckling region. The load-deflection obtained experimentally is compared with finite element result obtained considering the geometric non-linearity. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.