Influence of basalt fiber hybridization on the vibration-damping properties of glass fiber reinforced epoxy laminates

Glass fiber-reinforced composites are one of the oldest and the most widely used composite types in fiber reinforced polymeric composite industry for commercial and industrial applications. The tailorability for specific material applications to provide several design advantages associated with strength, chemical resistance, impact damage tolerance, thermal insulating and low cost are the primary advantages of glass fiber reinforced composites. The goal of this work is to study the significance of basalt fiber hybridization as a diagnosis of improvement of vibration damping properties of glass fiber reinforced composites, and as a means of preliminary examination to ensure the feasibility for potential applications. The hybrid composite laminates with different ratios of basalt and glass fibers were prepared using vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process. Free vibration tests were conducted to identify the vibration damping properties of hybrid composites, depending on basalt fiber loading rate. Free vibration tests evidenced a monotonic increase in damping ratio and loss modulus as basalt fiber content increased, but the natural frequency and storage modulus decreased together with the basalt fiber loading. Uniaxial tensile tests were also performed in order to compare the influence of hybridization on storage modulus and tensile modulus. The results of tensile tests showed that tensile modulus almost exhibited similar trend with storage modulus and incorporation of basalt fiber caused deteriorations in tensile strength and tensile modulus of glass fiber reinforced composite.