Enhancement the Crashworthiness Parameters Using Natural and Hybrid Composites under Axial Static Crushing

Abstract

In automotive applications, replacing heavy and expensive materials with light and cheap natural fiber leads to noise reduction, strength enhancement and fuel management. Enhancing the absorption of energy, controlling the failure style of composite thin shell tube and utilizing it instead of thin-walled steel columns in vehicle structural parts can provide more protection for occupants during collisions. This research investigates the possibility of gradually replacing metallic materials with natural and hybrid fibers in industries. The hand layup technique is utilized to study the performance of fiber reinforced epoxy composite tubes under static crushing to examine the jute fiber effect with different fibers types on the failure mechanism. The research studies the effect of using different fibers types on stress and strain after determining the tubes load-displacement curves. Total of 48 specimens are fabricated at room temperature and tested with a constant speed 1.5 mm/sec using one resin (epoxy) type and three fibers types (Glass, Kevlar, Jute). Two circular and square geometries with three heights (200 mm,250 mm,300 mm) including two circular diameters and two square side lengths are used to investigate the crashworthiness parameters. The Kevlar and glass fiber tubes showed low and unstable behavior. Replacing two layers of Kevlar or Glass fiber by two layers of natural jute fiber enhanced the crash worthiness parameters particularly, failure type. The hybrid jute with Kevlar accomplished desirable and best results followed by hybrid jute with glass.