Characterization of Hybrid Fiber Metal Laminate Polymer Composite Using Compression Moulding

Abstract

The present research work is carried out on the Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) and Polypropylene (PP) matrix with the addition of titanium ceramic powder as the reinforcement to form a hybrid. The hybrid polymer composites help improve the mechanical strength. The formed hybrid composites and their pure form undergo characterization. The formed composites are further used to make fiber metal laminates with varying combinations such as the outer layers containing the same materials and dissimilar materials of the prepared Poly Propylene (PP) and Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) composites. The formation of fiber metal laminates uses pure aluminum metal as the inner core. newlineVarious fabrication processes are to be adopted for the preparation of the composites and their laminates. The injection molding process is used for the preparation of PVC composites, the hot extrusion process is used for the preparation of PP composites and the laminate preparation is done on the compression molding process. The addition of fillers, stabilizers, plasticizer and the compatibilizers are expected to enhance the mechanical and thermal properties of the composites and their laminates positively as opposed to the pure form of these materials. The basement of this work is to reduce the weight and improve the strength of the materials to be integrated into the applications in construction and automotive industries. newlineThe prepared composite plates and the laminates are cut into the required shape, size and dimensions of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards for the various tests .The tests conducted on the specimens are tensile test, flexural test, hardness measurement, impact test and fatigue test. These tests are carried out to find the mechanical properties of the mentioned composites and their laminates. The morphological studies are carried out using the scanning electron microscope. The scanning electron micrograms show the details about the grain formation and the nature of the grains during formation and the variation