Low Velocity Impact Behavior of Carbon/Basalt Fiber Reinforced Intra-Ply Hybrid Composites

The effect of hybridization on the low velocity impactbehavior of woven carbon/basalt fiber reinforced intra-plyhybrid composites was investigated experimentally. Threetypes of basalt and carbon based homogeneous with 60 %volume fraction of neat fiber (basalt fiber and carbon fiber)and twill intra-ply hybrid composite laminates with 30 %wt. carbon and 30 % wt. basalt fiber content werefabricated by Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion Molding(VARIM) method. Improvement of the impact toughnessand reduction in the cost of Carbon Fiber ReinforcedPolymer (CFRP) composites was the main purpose of usingthis type of hybrid composites. Energy profile method wasused to determine impact penetration threshold. In thisregard drop weight tests were carried out in 20, 50, 60 and80 J energy magnitudes. The results indicate that the impactperformance of homogenous composites was improved byhybridization.