Influence of Aluminum wire mesh location through stacking sequence on mechanical properties of GFRE composite laminates

Abstract

Glass laminate aluminum reinforced epoxy (GLARE) mixes a layer of aluminum with fiber-reinforced epoxy to constitute a hybrid composite. During this investigation, plain E-glass fiber/epoxy specimen in addition to hybrid composite laminated epoxy specimens reinforced with both E-glass fiber and wire meshes of aluminum were produced. Tensile, bending, and hardness tests were performed to investigate how inserting Al wire meshes through thickness of the specimen in place of glass fiber layers affected the material mechanical characteristics. The characteristics of the generated hybrid laminates represented by strength and ductility were greatly influenced by varying the position and orienting direction of the aluminum wire mesh ply. Inclusion of Al wire mesh in the outer layers significantly causes deterioration in material tensile and bending strengths. The tensile strain as well as bending strain, on the other hand, were improved as a result of incorporating Al wire meshes by 51.3 percent and 153.4 percent, respectively.