Interleaving carbon‐glass veils in glass epoxy composite for enhanced fracture toughness and interlaminar shear strength—A hybrid approach

AbstractThe present study investigates the mode‐II fracture resistance and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) in glass epoxy laminates with the aid of glass‐carbon veils hybrid interleaving technique. Hybrid interleaves were prepared using various areal densities of non‐woven carbon and glass veils. Two methods, specifically inter‐ply and inter‐weaved ply interleaved glass epoxy composite laminates were manufactured by hand layup technique. End notch flexural and short beam test specimens were tested to estimate the mode‐II fracture resistance and ILSS. Test results indicated that the interleaved with inter‐weaved veil composite exhibited ~58% to ~82% and ~13% to ~61% enhancement for inter‐ply veil composite laminates when compared to plain samples. In context with the short beam test, a significant enhancement of approximately 23% in ILSS was noticed for the plain inter‐weaved veil constructed with a lower areal density of the carbon veil. Finally, the plain inter‐weaved interleaving technique has a prominent role in enhancing the resistance to fracture and shear strength in Glass epoxy laminates. Further, the fracture mechanisms of non‐interleaved and hybrid ply interleaved composite laminates were observed by scanning electron microscopic images.Highlights Interleaving non‐woven microfiber veil is the most promising and cost‐effective strategy to enhance the Interlayer toughness and strength. Interleaving techniques used in this investigation have a significant effect on interlaminar fracture toughness (IFT) and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS). The areal density of high‐modulus carbon veil showed a different phenomenal influence on IFT and ILSS.