Effect of Stacking Sequence on Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Woven/Non-woven Fabric Polymeric Laminates

Laminated composites are indispensable to the modern composite structures, as multiply laminates are designed to satisfy specific loading conditions. Change in fiber orientation of a specific ply may or may not change the in-plane properties of entire laminate and hence a particular fiber orientation can be used without changing overall composite properties. This placement of plies with specific fiber orientations adjacent to each other gives rise to a number of stacking terminologies such as cross-ply, unidirectional (UD), symmetric, asymmetric, quasi-isotropic, balanced, etc. This chapter delineates the effects of stacking sequence on the quasi-static (tensile, compressive, flexure) and dynamic (tensile, compressive, flexure, impact) mechanical properties of laminated composites. Polymer composites are visco-elastic materials which means their mechanical properties greatly depends on the ambient temperature. Stacking sequence are found to alter the DMA (Dynamic Mechanical Analysis) and TMA (Thermomechanical Analysis) results of laminated composites. Response of composites to external factors depends greatly on the materials and now-a-days selection of materials is directly associated with product sustainability.