A study on the mechanical properties of aramid/basalt fiber hybrid composite for marine use

Abstract

Fibre-reinforced composite materials (FRPs) have been used successfully in marine and offshore applications for several decades in areas such as cabin modules, super yachts, work boats and leisure craft. Materials used in marine use need high specific stiffness and strength, good corrosion resistance and good design-ability. Marine composite strives to be an up-to-date compendium of materials, design and building practices in the marine composites industry - a field that is constantly changing. Designers should seek out as much technical and practical information as time permits. Aramid fiber in marine composites and maritime vessel composites helps provide an ideal balance of strength, stiffness, and lightweight properties for many marine applications. Basalt fiber has good tensile strength and elastic modulus which are better than normal fibers and it is becoming the first choice of composite reinforcement. In this paper, tensile and bending properties of aramid/basalt hybrid fiber reinforced polymer was studied by the experimental data analysis and fracture morphology observation. 6 kinds of samples with different fiber content and 6 types of samples with different ply sequence were produced together with neat AFRP and BFRP using the VaRTM process. Further studies found that adding HNT additives can improve performance to a certain extent.