Investigation of mechanical properties of hybrid stainless steel/acrylic and carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite

Hybrid composite specimens were produced with stainless steel-acrylic (SSA) and carbon fiber reinforcement in order to achieve ductile behavior compared to CF reinforced epoxy composites. Laminated composites containing CF and SSA fabrics in with different ply configurations were manufactured using vacuum infusion method. In addition, CF fabric was used in two different ply orientations (0-45 degrees). In both the flexural and tensile test results, composites having CF oriented at 0 degrees showed higher strength and modulus but lower strain than composites having CF oriented at 45 degrees. When the number of carbon fiber layers increased, the composites showed high strength and modulus, but low strain. Increasing the number of SSA significantly increased the flexural and tensile strains of laminated composites. After the mechanical tests, the fracture surfaces of the specimens were examined with an optical microscope and matrix cracks, fiber breakage, fiber pull-out and delamination failures were observed.