A comparative study of composite structures reinforced with carbon, glass or natural fibers

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a comparative study between different structures composed of fiber-reinforced composite materials. Plates, cylinders and cylindrical and spherical shell panels in symmetric 0°/90°/0° and antisymmetric 0°/90°/0°/90° configurations are analyzed considering carbon fiber, glass fiber and linoleum fiber reinforcements.

Design/methodology/approach

A free vibration analysis is proposed for different materials, lamination sequences, vibration modes, half-wave numbers and thickness ratios. Such an analysis is conducted by means of an exact three-dimensional shell model which is valid for simply supported structures and cross-ply laminations. The employed model is based on a layer-wise approach and on three-dimensional shell equilibrium equations written in general orthogonal curvilinear coordinates.

Findings

The proposed study confirms the well-known superiority of the carbon fiber-reinforced composites. Linoleum fiber-reinforced composites prove to be comparable to glass fiber-reinforced composites in the case of free vibration analysis. Therefore, similar frequencies are obtained for all the geometries, thickness ratios, laminations sequences, vibration modes and a large spectrum of half-wave numbers. This partial conclusion needs further confirmations via static, buckling and fatigue analyses.

Originality/value

An exact three-dimensional shell model has been used to compare several geometries embedding carbon fiber composites and natural fiber composites.

Citation

Brischetto, S. (2017), "A comparative study of composite structures reinforced with carbon, glass or natural fibers", Multidiscipline Modeling in Materials and Structures, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 165-187. https://doi.org/10.1108/MMMS-12-2016-0061