International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

Tensile Property Evaluation of Carbon Fiber

Reinforced Aluminium Sandwich Composites
U. Tamilarasan*

L. Karunamoorthy

K. Palanikumar

Research Scholar,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, Chennai-25, India.
Sri Sai Ram Institute of Technology,
Anna University, Chennai-25, India.
Chennai-44, India.
karun@annauniv.edu
tamilarasan.u@gmail.com
palanikumar_k@yahoo.com

Abstract-Composite

materials
are
finding
new
applications in many situations and are better than the
conventional materials because of their excellent properties.
In the present investigation, aluminium sandwich composite
laminates are fabricated and their tensile property is
evaluated. The structure of the composites and their
fractured surface are studied by using Scanning Electron
Microscope. The analysis of the experimental results
indicated that the incorporation of aluminium stack as
sandwich improves the properties and can be used as a
structural material for construction.
Keywords
AA6061T6, Carbon fibre, Mechanical
properties,sandwich composite

I.
INTRODUCTION
Carbon fiber reinforced composite is a class of
important material and has thin long fibre consisting of
carbon and polymer matrix [1]. The carbon fibres are made
of small strands and are able to withstand high load than
the glass and other fibres.The filament diameters varies
from 5-10 microns.[2].The arrangement of carbon fibres in
a bundle or ina organised manner is called as yarn.These
fibres are put together to form a shape using polimer
matrix called polymer composite.The polimer matrix may
be either thermoplastic or thermoset and are used in
application from [3]aerospace to sports good.The carbon
fibres are made by different techniques these are normally
made by the process like wet spinning,dry spinning,air gap
spinning and melt spinning[4]The various processes in the
manufacturing
of
these
carbon
fibres
are
oxidation,precarburising and carbonising.The carbon fibres
are one of the important class of materials used in
aerospace industries of UK,USA,Japan etc.eventhough the
cost of the carbon fibre reinforced composite materials are
high,they have excellent properties like to withstand that
high temperature.Because of these reasons these materials
are finding many applications in different fields. From the
above studies, it has been revealed that Carbon fibre
reinforced composite materials are finding important place
in manufacturing industry, The sandwich of aluminum
improves the property of material used. In the present
investigation, carbon fibre reinforced aluminum sandwich
is used. The tensile properties of composite is studied and
presented in detail. The fractured surface is studied using
scanning electron microscope (SEM).

ISBN 978-93-80609-17-1
1077

II.
EXPERIMENTAL WORK
The Sandwich of Aluminum/Carbon was
processed by using hand layup technique at
room
temperature. The volume fraction of 55:45 ratio is
maintained throughout the process to complete one
laminate using bi-directional layer of (0-90-0-90-0AA6061-0-90-0-90-0) carbon fiber and aluminum
(AA6061T6) sandwich. Carbon fiber and adhesive has
not stick properly on the plane surface of the aluminum
and hence the inverted roots are made on the aluminum
plate in order to fabricate the carbon fiber in the
aluminum to avoid the fracture between the structures,
and to have a strong bonding between the fiber and
aluminum. The tensile specimen are made into 300mm X
300mm X 10mm (lxbxt) as per ASTM standards and
tensile tests are carried out using Universal Testing
Machine (UTM) having 40 ton capacity. The tensile tests
are carried out for three different specimens
namelyT1,T2,T3. The schematic diagram of the
fabricated specimen with the aluminium sandwiched is
presented in Fig. 1. Table 1 shows the properties of
aluminium and carbon fiber used in the present
investigation.
Table1.Tensile properties of metallic and Composite Material

Material
Specific gravity
Modulus, GPa

AA6061-T6
2.70
68.9

Carbon fiber epoxy

1.55
137.8

Tensile strength,MPa

310

1550

Yield Strength, MPa

Ratio of Modulus to weight
Ratio of Tensile strength to
weight

275
2.60
11.7

-9.06
101.9

International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

Fig. 3 Fractured tensile specimen

(a) Fabricated Specimen

(c) Fabricated Specimen with

(b) Aluminium Specimen

TableAluminium
2 shows theSandwich
tensile strength in which the
maximum tensile strength observed is 315.86 MPa and
minimum tensile strength observed is 283.05 MPa. The
tensile strength obtained for the specimens are different,
the reason being the specimen are fabricated manually.

Fig. 1 Schematic arrangement of the sandwich structure fabricated

III.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

With increase in need of carbon fibre reinforced

plastic and composites, there is an enormous expansion
taking place in the field. The inclusion of aluminium as a
reinforced material used in between composite increases
the strength and reliability. Fig. 1 shows the arrangement of
carbon fibre and sandwiched plate. In the diagram, the top
layer indicates the carbon fibre and the middle layer
indicated the aluminum sandwich panel in which the
carbon fibre is having zero degree orientation and AA6061
aluminum sandwich plate is kept between them. Table 1
shows the tensile properties of metallic and composite
materials fabricated. Fig 2 shows the tensile test specimen
prepared as per ASTM standard. The number T1,T2 and
T3 indicates three different specimen fabricated at the
same condition to measure the variability in tensile
strength.

TABLE 2: TENSILE TEST RESULTS

Mechanical Test

T1

T2

T3

Tensile Test in MPa

315.86

304.46

283.05

Fig 4 shows the sample graph observed for the

tensile testing of aluminium sandwich carbon fiber
reinforced plastic composite specimen. The result indicated
that there is a increase in strength is observed at middle
due to the presence of the aluminium, which is sandwiched
between the carbon fiber.

Fig. 4 Sample graph for tensile test

Fig. 2 Tensile specimen used for the investigation

Fig 3 shows the tensile specimen after fracture.

The specimen indicates that there is a removal of carbon
fibre reinforced plastic at certain condition. This is due to
the fact that once the load is applied on the specimen the
material is fractured and adhesiveness between the
composites and aluminum is separated.

ISBN 978-93-80609-17-1
1078

All the specimen shows almost the same strength,

the figures indicates that the applied force increases up to a
stroke of 9mm, after that it stabilizes for some time and
then intends to reduce. The stroke 8-10 indicates different
curvature, the reason being, in between this stroke the
aluminum sandwiched plate is in contact with specimen.
The result indicates a different for carbon fibre reinforced
plastic and aluminum plate because carbon reinforced
plastic is an anisotropic material whereas aluminum is
formed as an alloy. The scanning electron micrograph
image of the fracture is presented in Fig. 5.

International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

Fig. 5 (a) Fractured surface observed Fig. 5 (b) Fractured surface observed
for specimen 1
for specimen 2

1. The result indicate that carbon fibre reinforced

sandwiched plate is best suited for structural
applications.
2. The maximum tensile strength observed is 315.86
MPa and minimum tensile strength is 283.05
MPa.
3. The SEM micrograph indicates the bonding
between the carbon fibre reinforced plastic and
aluminum sandwiched plate.
4. By using proper adhesive and various fibre
orientations, the tensile strength may be
improved.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]

Fig. 5 (c) and (d) Fractured surface observed in aluminium plate

[4]
[5]

Fig. 5 (a,b) shows the fractured surface of the sandwiched

specimen. The figure clearly indicates that the bonding
between the carbon fibre reinforced plastic and aluminum
is poor. The strength of the plate is mainly due to the
aluminum sandwiched plate. Fig 5(c,d) shows the fracture
surface of the aluminum in which surface discontinuity
and irregularity are observed. From the results, it has
been noted that the carbon fibre reinforced plastic
sandwiched aluminum plate is better than the ordinary
carbon fibre reinforced plastic composite and it has been
used as substitute material for carbon fibre reinforced
plastic in structural applications.

[6]

[7]
[8]
[9]

[10]
[11]
[12]

IV CONCLUSIONS

In the present in investigation, the tensile strength

of the carbon reinforced aluminum sandwiched plate is
studied.

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[13]

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