This paper describes the optimization of a composite laminate made from two materials. The use of two materials in the laminates design can offer improved designs, as it is possible to combine the desirable properties of the two materials. In this paper, we consider the use of graphite-epoxy, which has high stiffness properties, but is expensive, and glass-epoxy, which is not as stiff, but has ...

The advent of novel robot-assisted composite manufacturing techniques has enabled steering fibre paths in the plane lamina, leading to emergence so-called variable angle tow (VAT) laminates. These laminates, with spatially varying orientations, provide designer ability tailor point-wise stiffness properties VAT composites substantially more efficient structural performance over conventional str...

Investigations on flexural and tensile properties of GFRP laminates influenced by stainless steel wire reinforcement were carried out as a novel approach. Plain GFRP laminates and GFRP laminates reinforced with stainless steel wires at different depth with various pitch distances were fabricated by hand layup method. The composite specimens reinforced with steel wires were exposed to low freque...

This work mainly aims to manufacture nanocomposite laminates at first. The prepreg AS-4 graphite/PolyEtherEtherKetone laminates were used to make a 16-layered APC-2 laminate of 2 mm thick via curing the modified diaphragm. The nanoparticles of Silica (SiO2) were uniformly spread on the specific interfaces totally about 1-3% by weight of a laminate by sol-gel method. Second, by the results of me...

Corrosion of steel reinforcement is one of the main durability problems facing reinforced concrete infrastructures worldwide. This paper will summarize the results of a multi-phase experimental program undertaken at the University of Waterloo to investigate the viability of using externally bonded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) laminates to rehabilitate corrosion-damaged reinforced concrete bea...

Laminate composites which are widely used in the aeronautical industry, are usually subjected to frequency variation of environmental temperature and excessive humidity in the in-service environment. The thermal fatigue and moisture absorption in composites may induce material degradation. There is a demand to investigate the coupling damages mechanism and characterize the degradation evolution...

It is an effective way to improve the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) members by externally bonded carbon fiber reinforcement polymer (CFRP) laminates on the soffit of the members. However, there is little investigation on flexural performance of RC beam flexurally strengthened by side-bonded FRP laminates. To investigate the flexural behavior of RC beams side-bonded CFRP laminate...

Abstract A Matlab®-based numerical tool, ‘SteerFab’, is developed to predict steered fibre patterns and analyse the mechanical properties of resulting variable stiffness panels using finite element software, Abaqus™. Based on trellis shear kinematics [1], both pattern shape corresponding initial undeformed sheet can be created by SteerFab. Two types rectangular plates measuring 300 mm × 400 mm ...