Fabrication of Advanced Fiber Reinforced Composite Materials and Their Cryogenic Behavior Assessment

Composite materials can be defined as a combination of two or more materials that results in better properties than those of the individual components used alone. These materials have high strength and stiffness combined with low density compared to the conventional metals. Polymers are structurally more complex than metals. Polymer – matrix composites are viscoelastic materials and their mechanical properties are significantly influenced by temperature. Carbon fibers are strong, stiff and low density but highly expensive, while glass fibers are relatively cheap and have better fracture strain and fracture stress. By combining the two fibers with in the same resin matrix it is possible to achieve balance between the properties of all GFRP and all CFRP. In this studyinter-laminar shear strength (ILSS) was carried out to quantitatively evaluate the mechanical behavior of glass/epoxy and lass/carbon/epoxy hybrid composite, glass/Kevlar hybrid and carbon nano tube reinforced in glass epoxy composite at ambient and liquid nitrogen environment. The glass/epoxy composite consist 60wt% of E-glass and 40 wt. % of epoxy. In case of glass/carbon /epoxy hybrid composite 30wt % of E-glass, 30 wt. % of carbon and 40wt % of epoxy and 0.1% CNT , 60wt % glass fiber and 40wt% epoxy. This work mainly focused on response of ILSS for GFRP, glass/carbon, glass / Kevlar and MWCNT reinforced in glass / epoxy hybrid composites at cryogenic environment.Hence this results in choosing G/C hybrid is a better choice of material in low temperature environmental applications.