Experimental Assessment of Residual Integrity and Balanced Mechanical Properties of GFRP/CFRP Hybrid Laminates under Tensile and Flexural Conditions

In this work, the hybrid effect on both tensile and flexural properties as well as the residual integrity of six hybrid unidirectional laminates of carbon/glass fibers with epoxy resin matrix was experimentally assessed. The experimental results showed that the best balance on both tensile and flexural properties was obtained by a high degree of dispersion of low and high elongation reinforcement within the interply hybrid configuration. The [G/C/G](s) hybrid condition exhibited a hybrid effect ranging from 1.30 to 1.87, which means an increase of 30% and 87% for the laminate mechanical performance, respectively. Furthermore, increases in both the tensile residual integrity of 3.67 times, and the flexural residual integrity of 1.26 times were obtained, compared to the reference laminates.