The flexural behaviour of aramid fibre hybrid composite materials

In this paper the elastic-plastic model of flexural behaviour of beams is applied to hybrid composites containing aramid fibres. In the hybrids, as in the parent aramid-fibre-reinforced composite, the neutral axis is shifted toward the tensile face. The shift depends on the quantity and placement of the aramid fibre. The analysis and experimental work reported here relate to two fundamental sandwich hybrids, one with aramid fibres in the skins and carbon or glass fibres in the core, and the other with aramid fibre in the core and carbon or glass fibres in the skins. The flexural behaviour of the hybrids is discussed in terms of the effect of the placement of the aramid layer and of the relative thickness of the skin on the ultimate stresses, the elastic-plastic behaviour and the mode of failure.