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ABSTRACT
The present investigation covers the studies conducted on the
effect of varying the number of preform layers and changing the lay-up
architecture on the mechanical properties of plain woven flax and rib knitted
flax reinforced composites. In addition, the effect of the above variables on
the mechanical properties of sequentially stacked flax knitted/woven
reinforced composites was also studied. The mechanical properties taken into
consideration during the course of the study were the tensile, flexural, impact
and compressive properties. Commercially available flax yarn was woven into
plain fabric on a power loom and the rib knitted fabrics was produced on a
manual, V-bed knitting machine using 3-ply flax yarn. The fabrics were then
reinforced into the composite laminate by the hand lay-up method. The
laminate plates were fabricated using 2 and 4 mm thick spacers between the
press-plate with a volume fraction of 18-33%. The laminates were then cured
in a hot platen press. The lay-up architecture of the preforms taken into
consideration for woven, knitted and sequentially stacked knitted/woven
composites were [0] and [0/90] for 2 mm thick laminates and [0/0/0/0],
[0/90/90/0] and [0/45/0] in the case of 4 mm thick laminates.
Natural fibre composites are being extensively explored by
research institutes, automobiles, aviation, marine, civil and packaging
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industries as an environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic fibre
composites. Of the natural fibres, flax fibre offers numerous advantages such
as good mechanical properties, renewable raw material, low-density, better
crash absorbance, non-abrasive and are much safer during handling.
Further, textile preforms manufactured by conventional textile
technology such as weaving and knitting are known to offer attractive intra-
and inter-laminar strength, damage tolerance, lower cost and versatile design
potential. Hence in the present study, the mechanical properties of flax -
woven, knitted and sequentially stacked knitted/woven preform reinforced
composites were studied.
The tensile and flexural properties of the textile reinforced
composites depend on the number of fibre bundles bridging the fracture plane.
It was observed from the studies on the tensile and flexural properties of the
composite, that weft wise mechanical properties improved with the change in
lay-up architecture in the case of 16-layered woven composite. However, the
tensile and flexural property slightly deteriorates with increase in number of
preform layers in reinforcement from 8-layers to 16-layers.
In case of laminates reinforced with knitted preforms, the wale
wise tensile and flexural strength were higher than course wise strength. Also
with the change in the lay-up architecture, improvement in course wise tensile
and flexural modulus was observed.
In case of sequentially stacked knitted/woven composites, a knit
cum weave effect can be obtained, leading to better tensile and flexural
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properties. Sequentially stacked knitted/woven preform laminates show value
in between woven and knitted composites. This is expected, because the
inherent stiffness of woven fabric, better dimensional stability and better out
of plane properties of woven fabric may positively contribute to the overall
stiffness of the composite.
The failure modes in woven, knitted and sequentially stacked
knitted/woven composites in lay-up architecture [0/0/0/0] and
[0/90/90/0] were at right angles to the application of the uni-axial loads
for both 2 and 4 mm thick laminates. However, the failure modes were
unpredictable in the case of laminates with lay-up architecture [0/45/0].
The impact properties of composite material are directly related to
its overall toughness. The impact resistance of woven composite in lay-up
architecture [0/0] was found to be better compared to knit and sequentially
stacked knitted/woven composites in the other lay-up architectures
considered.
The crushing behaviour of the composite is dependent on the fibre
architecture and on the fibre content. The buckling load of the laminates in
woven, knitted and sequentially stacked knitted/woven composites improves
with increase in number of preform layers and thickness.
The failure modes and corresponding morphology of the broken
samples are systematically characterised by scanning electron microscopy in
this study.