Study the effect of fracture toughness on hybrid composite for automotive application

Fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) possess good fatigue resistance, high stiffness, and resistance for corrosion. These mechanical properties helps in vast application in industries such as marine, automotive, aerospace, and bio-medical. Different types of fibers materials have been incorporated into a various matrix which has led to the development of hybrid composites. These hybrid composite that containing two or more types of fiber proves to be most advantageous as one type of fiber could supplement the properties where other fibers fail. The main objectives of this paper are the fabrication of the hybrid composites and study the variation of the fracture toughness. For the fracture toughness different tests like single edge-notched bending (SENB) test experimentation were carried out. In this study fabricated hybrid composite using hand layup technique with varying fiber matrix composition is machined using water jet machining as per ASTM standard. An experimental study for fracture toughness of hybrid composites was carried out as per SENB test method. The main intention of this research was to explore the variation of properties of composite material for fracture toughness which will be suitable to use in automotive applications.