Materials, Methods & Technologies, Volume 7, 2013

Аннотация: During the past decade use of both carbon and fiberglass composites have increased in aerospace, marine and automotive applications. One of the drawbacks of using carbon composites is that they are strong in axial direction but weak in transverse direction and hence are susceptible to impact damage. On the other hand fiberglass composites have excellent impact resistance, but typically less strength in axial direction. Recently aerospace manufacturers have started using hybrid laminates, comprising of both fiberglass and carbon materials. This paper presents the finite element modelling of the progressive failure analysis of hybrid composite laminates. The progressive deformation and damage mechanisms under static loading are investigated and compared with 3-D finite element progressive failure analysis of hybrid laminates under static loading. The model predictions showed good agreement with experimental data. The present modelling approach is computationally efficient and provides an effective method for the design of the hybrid composites.