Strength characterization of caryota urens fibre and aluminium 2024-T3 foil multi-stacking sequenced SiC-toughened epoxy structural composite

High toughness and high-impact damage resistance fibre-metal hybrid laminate epoxy composites were prepared and characterized. In this present research, a hybrid fibre-metal laminate was reinforced into SiC-toughened epoxy resin for making high performance structural material for automobile and aircraft applications. Novel natural fibre caryota urens and silicon carbide (SiC) particles were surface-treated using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) whereas the aluminium foil was sandblasted. The hybrid fibre-metal laminate with different stacking sequenced epoxy composites were prepared using vacuum bag moulding followed by post curing. A highest strength factor of 97 is observed for composite designation CAC1, which contains 0.5 vol.% of SiC. The drop load impact toughness of ACA1 composite gives the highest energy absorption of 20.6 J. Similarly, the CAC1 composite designation gives fracture toughness of 32.1 MPa. $$ \sqrt{\mathrm{m}} $$ and energy release rate of 1.557 mJ/m2. The scanning electron microscope images revealed highly reacted phase of surface-treated reinforcements with epoxy resin matrix.