Tailoring of mechanical, thermal and vibration behaviour of hybrid fibre with core honeycomb energy-absorbing materials reinforced polymer sandwich laminates

Abstract

Sandwich laminates are particularly important in the early stages of structural design due to their excellent mechanical, energy absorption, and other structural properties. High-strength carbon and glass fibre with honeycomb core sandwich laminates were fabricated by vacuum bag moulding. Three different energy-absorbing materials are used to develop sandwich structure laminates, such as cores filled with Rohacell, naturally available wheat husk and polyurethane foam (PUF). Some tests, such as flexural strength, vibrational behaviour, flammability analysis and impact tests, are carried out to assess the mechanical and dynamical properties of the sandwich laminates. According to the results, the PUF sandwich layer designed laminate exhibits good vibration with higher mechanical properties compared to the Rohacell and wheat husk laminates. Moreover, the PUF core laminate enhances the fire resistance property. PUF foam with fibres reinforced sandwich composite exhibited a higher natural frequency (825 Hz) and a higher damping value (0.059) than the wheat husk and Rohacell core sandwich laminates. This is because the PUF core dissipates energy more efficiently than other core sandwich laminates at all modes.