Numerical Study of Tensile Properties of POM/Woven Kenaf Composite

By

Muhammad Syahir Bin Shaiful Haslan
15151



Interim Report
Bachelor of Engineering (Hons)
(Mechanical Engineering)

JANUARY 2014








Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
Bandar Seri Iskandar
31750 Tronoh
Perak Darul Ridzuan



ABSTRACT

Woven fibers are considered to be useful as a reinforcing material within composites.
They provide many advantages in the application of polymer matrix composites by
increasing the transverse strength and stiffness. In order to fully realize the potential
of woven fiber reinforced composite, it is imperative to understand the mechanical
behavior of the composite. In this study, predications of tensile properties of woven
fiber composites are proposed using a numerical methods. However, this study has
some challenge as there is a very limited paper focusing on prediction of tensile
properties of woven fiber composite. The tensile properties of POM/woven kenaf
laminate composite are determined with assumption that classical laminate theory is
applicable. The continuous fiber will be stacked as plies in a laminate with different
orientation so that the laminate properties will represent the equivalent properties of
woven fiber. The fiber architecture, including the fiber waviness is properly
accounted for. The results obtained from the study will then be used to compare and
validate through experiment done by another researcher.




CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
The aim of this chapter is to introduce the basic and general overview of the project
which are background study, problem statement, objectives and scope of study.
1.1 Background Study
Fiber reinforced composite is one of the advanced technologies that has been
expanding in the engineering material industry. Many studies have been conducted to
investigate the tensile properties of biodegradable composite materials using natural
fibers as a reinforcement for the polymers [1].
There is a growing interest in the use of woven composite for various type of
applications. Such applications range from bio-medical components, aircraft and
space structures to automotive and other applications. However the geometry of
woven fiber reinforced polymer like (POM) and woven kenaf composite is quite
complex. Numerical method is required to predict tensile properties of such
composite. With the development of the computing capabilities, numerical methods
are more favorable compared to analytical and experimental methods. This is because
analytical methods are difficult to apply on complex model meanwhile experimental
work is time and cost consuming. Therefore, a successful implementation of this
numerical study will allow the tensile properties analysis to be conducted thoroughly
without being too dependent on experimental and analytical methods.
By understanding the classical lamination plate theory and the stress-strain
relationships, the numerical arrangement of the stress and strain values for the angle-
ply symmetric laminated plates for various lamination angles can be carry out [2]. The
classical lamination plate theory is based on the love-kirchhoff theory with a few
hypothesis made.



1.2 Problem Statement
Experimental study of tensile properties on polymer/woven fiber composite was done
by Yakubu [3] and other researchers [1, 4]. However effort on predicting tensile
properties of woven fiber reinforced polymer is very limited. Therefore, this project is
proposed to predict the tensile properties of POM/woven kenaf laminate composite by
using numerical analysis.

1.3 Objectives
The objectives of this project are:
1. To predict tensile strength and modulus of POM/woven kenaf composite
using numerical method.
2. To validate the numerical data with existing experimental results.

1.4 Scope of Study
In this study, POM will be used as the matrix and kenaf will be employed as the
reinforcement. The mechanical properties of POM and kenaf fiber will be extracted
from POM technical data sheet and published journal paper, respectively. POM
FM090 grade and kenaf yarn imported from Bangladesh will be used in this project.
The composition of POM/woven kenaf that will be used in this project are 80/20 and
70/30 wt %.
To calculate laminate material properties and ply stiffness, Laminator software will be
used. A micromechanics calculator which is also included in the software will be used
to estimate lamina properties for given fiber and matrix properties.









CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Fiber reinforced composite materials offer outstanding mechanical properties, ease of
fabrication and unique in design capabilities. A growing interest in woven composites
has been observed in recent years. A woven fibers oriented on at least two axes in
order to provide great strength and stiffness [4]. This chapter describes the theory
used in understanding laminate composite structure. Special emphasis is given to the
woven fiber composite as it plays an important role on the mechanical properties of
the composite.
2.1 Classical Lamination Theory
A laminate is an organized stack of uni-directional composite plies (single fiber
direction rather than a weave pattern) [5]. By stacking layers of different composite
materials and/ or changing the fiber orientation, one can form composite laminates.
The most known theory for calculating laminated structures is the Classical
Lamination Theory.
This theory enables analytical stress-strain analysis of the laminated structures when
being subjected to either mechanical or thermal load. Arbitrary number of layers,
layer thicknesses and material type (isotropic, anisotropic) can be taken into account.
This enables us to calculate stresses and strains for each layers, laminate properties or
total deformation of the laminate. These laminate properties are then used as the
materials data in a structural analysis, where the influence of structure geometry and
loads are calculated and structural failure criteria applied [6].
The stacking of the material is defined by the fiber directions of each ply. Figure 2.1
shows the example of different laminate stacking sequences.


(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Figure 2.1: Example laminate stacking sequences [5].
In addition to the stacking sequence, the material properties of the composite material
must be defined:
i. Mechanical Elasticity (

).
ii. Thermal Expansion (

).

2.2 Equation for Ply Properties
Using the rule of mixtures, we can derived the equation to calculate the ply properties.
The equations for calculating ply properties are shown below [6, 7].

I. Modulus of Elasticity in the longitudinal direction:

II. Modulus of Elasticity in the transverse direction:

III. Shear modulus of ply:

IV. Poissons ratio:

(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
V. Density of the composite:

VI. Shear Stress:

VII. Longitudinal Coefficient of Thermal Expansion:

VIII. Transverse Coefficient of Thermal Expansion:

2.3 Woven Fiber Composite
The demand for woven fiber composite is increasing tremendously due to simple
processing technique, acceptable mechanical and physical properties and lower cost
of production [8]. Woven composites provide more balanced properties in the fabric
plane than unidirectional laminas. Woven fiber composites, in particular are
constructed by weaving two fiber tows into each other to form a layer. Figure 2.2
shows some examples of weaves used on most fibers.

Figure 2.2: Basic weaves used on most fibers [9].


According to Rahul Garg et al. [10], the simplest and common type of weave that
inexpensive to produce, durable, flat and tight surface is plain weave. Each weft yarn
goes alternately under one warp yarn. The interlacing pattern of the warp and fills
known as the weave [11]. Figure 2.3 shows the example of plain weave structure.

Figure 2.3: Plain weave structure.
There are only few reports on woven fiber composites reported so far. According to
Mithat Zeydan et al. [12], parallel yarns in woven fabric are only contact with each
other over a fraction of their length. Hence to produce an analytical model, a number
of simplifications are required. However, the methods is extremely time consuming,
very tedious and cannot be used in a routine manner for woven composite [13].
Such analytical methods should only be used at structural level or strictly at the
micromechanical level. Therefore, using the capabilities that already exist for
laminated composites but yet account the fiber woven using different orientation of
the laminate, woven composite behavior will be simulated.
Because of the thickness of the fiber is small, the woven fiber can be regarded as a
thin lamina [11]. To simulate woven fiber, the continuous fiber will be stacked as
plies in a laminate with different orientation (0/90) and the laminate properties will
represent the equivalent properties of woven fiber.


These layers are then impregnated with resin or matrix material, stacked in a desired
orientation and cured to obtain a composite laminate [13]. Figure 2.4 shows the
arrangement of laminate with two different orientations. The 90 ply in the laminate
represents the fill yarn while 0 ply represents the warp yarn.


Figure 2.4: 2-ply laminate stacked with different orientation (0/90).

A conventional (0/90) laminate fabricated from the same material, graphite/epoxy
composite (62/38) were computed using laminate theory in a research done by S. K.
Mital et al. [13]. The results are then being compared with three-dimensional Finite
Element Analysis (FEA) generated using the MSC Patran Computer Code. The
difference in both results is because the FEA analysis also account the loss in axial
stiffness due to the waviness of the fibers and matrix rich areas are somewhat lower
than they are in the tow areas. The comparison for both methods is shown in Table
2.1.

Table 2.1: Properties of Graphite/Epoxy plain weave composite (62/38) [13].
Property (0/90) laminate Finite Element Results

(GPa) 72.5 49.0

(GPa) 9.9 8.8

0.05 0.09

0.05 0.08

0.03 0.03

0.38 0.53

(GPa) 4.6 4.6

(GPa) 3.6 3.9

The results obtained from the study will be used to compare and validate through
experiment done by Yakubu [3]. Figure 2.5 and Figure 2.6 below shows the tensile
strength and tensile modulus obtained by Yakubu [3].


Figure 2.5: Tensile strength obtained by Yakubu [3].



61.8
127.8
140.1
67
75
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Neat POM Unidirectional
POM/kenaf
(80/20)
Unidirectional
POM/kenaf
(70/30)
POM/woven
kenaf (80/20)
POM/woven
kenaf (70/30)
Tensile Strength (MPa)




Figure 2.6: Tensile modulus obtained by Yakubu [3].












3.1
9.2
12.3
1.8
2.3
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Neat POM Unidirectional
POM/kenaf
(80/20)
Unidirectional
POM/kenaf
(70/30)
POM/woven
kenaf (80/20)
POM/woven
kenaf (70/20)
Tensile Modulus (GPa)
Tensile Modulus (GPa)


START
Literature review.
i. Classical lamination theory.
ii. Equation for ply properties.
iii. Woven fiber composite.

Obtain mechanical properties of POM
and woven kenaf.
Calculate ply properties of the
composite.
Input all the ply property into The Laminator
Validate the
numerical data with
the experimental
result.
Data analysis.
END
Result and discussion.
Conclusion and recommendation
YES
NO
Figure 3.1: Process flow chart.


CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents process flow diagram, research methodology and tools required
in the project.
3.1 Process Flow Diagram
Figure 3.1 below shows the methodology planned for the implementation of this
project.


















3.2 Mechanical properties of POM and kenaf yarn
POM FM090 grade will be used as matrix and kenaf yarn imported from Bangladesh
will be used as natural fiber reinforcement. The material properties for this composite
system are shown in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1: Mechanical properties of POM and kenaf fiber [14, 15].
Properties Kenaf Fiber POM Matrix
Tensile Strength (GPa) 0.6 0.06
Compressive Strength
(GPa)
0.057 0.031
Modulus (GPa) 30 2.54
Fiber Diameter (mm) 0.2 -
Density (g/cm
2
) 1.3 1.42
Shear Modulus (GPa) - 0.93
Poissons Ratio 0.2 0.35
Thermal Expansion
Coefficient (/K)
- 10410
-6
Shear Strength - 0.062












3.3 Tools Required
3.3.1 Laminator Software
Laminator is an engineering program that analyzes laminated composite plates
according to classical laminated plate theory. Table 3.2 shows input and output
included in the software.
Table 3.2: Input and output included in Laminator [16].
Input Output
Ply material properties
Material strengths
Ply fiber orientation
Stacking sequence
Mechanical load
Temperature/moisture
load
Apparent laminate material
properties
Ply stiffness
Compliance matrices
Laminate ABD matrices
Laminate loads
Mid-plane strains
Ply stresses
Strains in global
Material axes
Load factors for ply failure







Table 3.3: Project Gantt chart.
3.4 Key Milestone & Gantt Chart
The time allocate for project completion is 28 weeks. In order to aid the student for this project, Gantt chart has been produced. The
Gantt chart was shown in Table 3.3.



















CHAPTER 4
PROJECT PROGRESS AND FUTURE WORKS

4.1 Ply properties of the composite
Different type of laminate arrangement and orientation will be used in this study to
simulate both unidirectional and woven behavior of kenaf fiber. Therefore, a
micromechanics calculator which is also included in the software was being used to
estimate lamina properties for given fiber and matrix properties. Table 4.1 shows the
ply properties of the composite.

Table 4.1: Ply properties of the composite.
Properties POM/kenaf (80/20) POM/kenaf (70/30)
Longitudinal Modulus E
1

(GPa)
8.032 10.78
Shear Modulus G
12
(GPa) 0.62 0.5
Longitudinal Poisson V
12
0.32 0.31
Transverse Poisson V
21
0.0736 0.0438
Longitudinal Thermal
Expansion CTE
1
(10
-6
/K)
26.31 17.16
Transverse Thermal
Expansion CTE
2
(10
-6
/K)
103.9 93.05
Longitudinal Tensile
Strength X
t
(GPa)
0.1339 0.1796
Density (g/cm
3
) 1.396 1.384




4.2 Future Works
The future work for this study is to use all the data to calculate the tensile strength and
modulus using Laminator software that will be prepared to analyze multilayered plate.
The result obtained will then be validated with the existing experimental results.



























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