A Study of Delamination in a Natural Fibre Reinforced Composite Structure
摘要
The dire need for sustainable solutions in the field of the automotive industry has impelled the exploration and development of several eco-friendly materials as an alternative to conventional ones. Fiber-reinforced polymers are no exception to this and natural plant based-fibers are being used extensively to create hybrid composite materials. These fibers are replacing the synthetic fibers widely due to their availability, low cost and proven mechanical properties. It is very important to study the failure mechanism and damage tolerance of these hybrid composite structures to comprehend their possibilities of applications and failure patterns. The most frequent kinds of failure observed in composite structures is Delamination. The major objective of the paper is to study the delamination in the Natural fiber-reinforced composite structure. A Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) is modeled using numerical models and the material properties of the natural fibers obtained experimentally are used. A parametric study is carried out to understand the behavior of the composite structure under the action of tensile loads. Virtual Crack Closure Technique (VCCT) and Cohesive Zone Modelling (CZM) approaches are inculcated and the Energy release rates at the onset of delamination are computed. The obtained results are further validated against experimental results.