Mode II delamination of woven mengkuang fiber/woven silk laminated hybrid composites

AbstractThe effects of hybridization between woven mengkuang fiber/woven silk on mode II delamination (GIIC) of laminated composites were investigated by performing the end-notched flexure (ENF) test. Various configurations of woven mengkuang/woven silk layers were considered. The composite samples were prepared using hand lay-up, along with the cold press method. After fabrication, the test specimens were subjected to end-notch flexure testing for mode II delamination based on ASTM D790-03. During the test, the crack propagation was observed; the sudden drop in load meant that the sample experienced crack growth. The configuration of woven silk in between the pre-crack provided an excellent improvement in GIIC. Further addition of woven silk layers for similar configuration also yielded significant improvements in the GIIC result. The rate of critical strain energy release increases with an increase in number of woven silk layers for the configuration of silk in between the pre-crack. The scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) result shows the cross-section of the samples. The study also demonstrated that surface interaction between woven silk/epoxy/woven silk was better than woven mengkuang/epoxy/woven mengkuang lamination.