Laboratory development and tensile testing of grapite/glass/epoxy hybrid composite materials.

Abstract

Most advanced composite materials in use today consist of a single type of reinforcing fiber embedded in a matrix. There are possible advantages, however, in a system which used multiple types of reinforcing fibers. Such a material is called a "hybrid" or "mixed modulus" composite. This thesis describes the establishment of a composites laboratory facility at the Naval Postgraduate School and the development of manufacturing techniques to produce high-quality hybrid composite specimens for testing. Glass/graphite/ epoxy hybrid specimens manufactured in this laboratory were tested to determine the dependence of material properties on the relative orientations of the fibers. Results of the test program were compared with predictions made using classical laminate theory.