World Journal of Mechanical Engineering

Vol. 4(2), pp. 035-040, July, 2019. © www.premierpublishers.org. ISSN: 1550-7316

Review Article

Study on Vibration Analysis of Hybrid Laminated Composites

*R. Lakshmi1, Y. Seetha Rama Rao2
1(PG Student-M. Tech (CAAD), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering
(Autonomous), Visakhapatnam, India.
2(Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of
Engineering (Autonomous), Visakhapatnam, India.
This paper represents the review on vibration analysis of hybrid composites. As we know that
vibration and composite materials are two main growing research topics now-a-days. Almost all
the structural components subjected to dynamic loading in their working life and vibration affects
working life of the structure so it is very important in designing a component to reduce the
structural vibration and its amplitude. Composite material applications are wide in the aerospace,
civil, marine, and automotive industries due to their high specific stiffness and strength, excellent
fatigue resistance, long durability and many other superior properties compared to ordinary
composites. Carbon fiber reinforced polymers have high strength and light weight properties. But
CFRP suffer from high frequency vibrations at low operating conditions. In this paper studying
the hybridization of high stiffened CFRP with basalt fiber to reduce vibrations under cantilever
boundary condition.
Keywords: Hybrid composite, Modal analysis, Natural frequency, Cantilever boundary condition.

INTRODUCTION
Nowadays for a better performance, longevity and
increase in number of life cycles before fracture
engineering structures have to meet the requirements
such as high strength to weight ratio, high resistance to
failure due to dynamic, shock loading etc. So various
studies have been performed to study the free vibration
response of composites with various stresses and other
factors like temperature, support conditions, material
properties and lamination scheme. The composites are
selected and fabricated to have better strength without
increasing signifying weight.
Fiber hybridization involves the utilization of two or more
fiber types in a common matrix to form a new composite
material with improved properties compared with
composites of individual fiber type alone. The effect of
different stacking sequence, weight percentage, side to
thickness ratio, aspect ratio, rotation of fiber, boundary
conditions have been studied.
MATERIAL SELECTION
In this review, materials selected for fabrication of hybrid
composite are carbon fiber reinforced polymer and basalt.
Their properties were discussed below.
Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer
Carbon fiber reinforced polymer, carbon fiber reinforced
plastic or carbon reinforced thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP,
CFRTP) is an extremely strong and light fiber reinforced
plastic which contains carbon fibers. High strength carbon
fibers are very difficult to stretch or bend and low thermal
expansion that means will expand or contract much less in
hot and cold conditions than materials like steel and
aluminium. When made with appropriate resins carbon
fiber is one of the most corrosion resistant material. It has
superior fatigue properties compared to metals so that
exceptional durability.
Basalt
Basalt fibers show 15-20% higher tensile strength and
modulus. Extended operating temperature range and
better environmental properties. Processing of basalt
fibers does not require special equipment or technologies
and recyclable. It has better chemical resistance.
*Corresponding Author: Rongali Lakshmi; Department of
Mechanical Engineering, Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of
Engineering (Autonomous), Visakhapatnam, India.
E-mail: srisampathsai0555@gmail.com
Co-Author Email: yseetharamarao24@gvpce.ac.in

Study on Vibration Analysis of Hybrid Laminated Composites

Lakshmi and Seetha Rama Rao 036
METHODOLOGY
Composite Fabrication
Amongst the various fabrication techniques, vacuum-
assisted resin transfer molding process is chosen to
fabricate the hybrid laminated composites for this project.
Vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) is a
composite assembly technique in which a polymer resin is
injected into a mold containing woven fabrics with different
stacking as reinforcement of composite. It was performed
in vacuum by utilizing the differential pressure between the
atmosphere and a vacuum, and followed by heat
hardening. VARTM is regarded as the most cost-effective
manufacturing method.
Figure 1: Schematic illustration of vacuum assisted resin
transfer molding. Bozkurt et.al (2018).
The composite fabrics were stacked on a mold and
covered by a vacuum bagging film. Then, the epoxy resin
was injected into the mold by using a vacuum pump at low
injected pressure. Afterwards, the curing process of
composites was done in an oven. This was performed by
preheating the oven to a constant temperature of 650C
before placing the laminate.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Başturk et al. (2014) investigated the nonlinear dynamic
response of a hybrid laminated composite plate composed
of basalt, Kevlar/epoxy and E glass/epoxy under the blast
load with damping effects. The Galerkin Method is used to
obtain the nonlinear differential equations in the time
domain, and those equations are solved by finite
difference method. The vibration frequency increases with
increasing the damping ratio and in contrast, the deflection
amplitude decreases. The deflection amplitude and the
vibration frequencies increase while increasing the peak
pressure value.
Beulah et al. (2015) analyzed vibration analysis of hybrid
composite wing. The materials used for aircraft wings are
hybrid composite aluminum alloys and specifically the
composite materials preferred are carbon fibre and aramid
fibre. Further, static analysis is done on the wing by
applying air pressure for two materials aluminium - carbon
fibre and aluminium - aramid fibre.
Study on Vibration Analysis of Hybrid Laminated Composites
Biswal et al. (2016) investigated hydrothermal effects on
free vibration of woven fiber glass/epoxy laminated
composite cylindrical shallow shells. A number of
experiments are conducted for cylindrical shell panels with
different curvature ratios and lamination sequence under
different boundary conditions subjected to uniform change
of temperature and moisture concentrations for
comparison with FEM results. It is observed that the
natural frequencies of free vibration of laminated
composite shells reduce with increase in uniform
temperature and moisture concentration due to reduction
of the stiffness and increases with decreasing the
curvature ratios.
Bozkurt et al. (2018) observed that vibration and damping
properties of carbon fiber with epoxy composites are
significantly affected by hybridization with basalt fiber. The
increase of basalt fiber content in carbon fiber/epoxy
composite increase in damping ratio and decrease in
natural frequency
Chandrashekhar et al. (2010) performed nonlinear
vibration analysis using a C0 assumed strain interpolated
finite element plate model based on Reddy’s third order
theory. Monte Carlo Simulation with Latin Hypercube
Sampling technique is used to obtain the variance of linear
and nonlinear natural frequencies of the plate due to
randomness in its material properties. It is found that the
nonlinear frequencies show increasing non-Gaussian
probability density function with increasing amplitude of
vibration and show dual peaks at high amplitude ratios.
This chaotic nature of the dispersion of nonlinear
eigenvalues is also revealed in eigenvalue sensitivity
analysis.
Faroughi et al. (2018) developed an ISO-geometric
approach based on higher order smooth Non-Uniform
Rational B-Splines (NURBS) basis functions for the stress,
vibration and stability analysis of laminated composites.
Lightweight material such as FRP has been extensively
used in aeronautical, naval, and automotive applications;
however, the disadvantage of this system is that FRPs are
vulnerable to impact damage. To overcome these
drawbacks, a different combination of materials has been
used (aluminum and FRP). Besides, when a composite
material is subjected to high temperature or corrosive
environment, it affects the mechanical and corrosive
properties. One way to enhance the material quality, when
exposing to such an environment, is to laminate both the
surfaces of the composite material, with a layer of metallic
material.
Kumar et al. (2014) examined the free vibration
characteristics of short sisal fiber (SFPC) and short
banana fiber (BFPC) polyester composites with fiber
lengths are 3mm, 4mm, and 5mmand the weight
percentages are 30, 40 and 50. The maximum increase in
natural frequency was found in 4mm/50 wt% of BFPC and
for SFPC at 5mm/50 wt%.

Kumar et al. (2018) investigated the comparative structural
vibration analysis of machinery and GFRP with Al7075.
The data is processed in MATLAB using ARDUINO
relayed to computer to convert the data to frequency
spectra using Fast-Fourier transforms (FFT). Vibrational
properties of two lathes are compared at different
conditions and quantified the vibration results using Fast
Fourier Transforms (FFT) algorithm. In addition to which,
the vibration signatures of a composite are studied and
analyzed the vibration signature to identify the faults in
industrial equipment.
Mishra et al. (2015) presented an experimental
investigation of the natural frequency of woven fiber
composite Plate. The effect of different boundary
conditions (BCs) including free–free, cantilever, simply
supported, and fully clamped was presented and
compared with results of previous studies in literature
wherever available.
Mohanty et al. (2012) studied a finite element model for a
composite plate with delamination of a woven fiber glass
with epoxy. The frequencies of vibration decrease with
increase of the delamination area in woven fiber composite
plates.
Nayak et al. (2013) conducted experimental and numerical
investigation on parametric study of vibration and buckling
characteristics of woven fiber Glass-Carbon/epoxy hybrid
composite panels. For hybrids with 25% laminate layers of
carbon fibre and the rest 75% glass fibre, the minimum
frequency is observed in case of (G-C-G-G)s sequence
and for hybrids with 50% carbon fibre laminates, the
minimum frequency is observed for (C-G-C-G)2
sequence. The effectiveness of hybridization increases if
materials with high values of young’s modulus form the
outermost layer. The buckling loads of hybrid laminates
with same mass and small amount of fibre with high
stiffness are higher than those corresponding to
homogeneous laminates. Pure carbon fiber plates
possess higher strength in buckling and vibration
compared to hybrid plates.
Panda et al. (2015) determined the free vibration
characteristics of woven fiber glass/epoxy delaminated
doubly curved composite panels in a thermal environment
based on the finite element approach. First-order shear
deformation theory is chosen for a composite shell model
with provision of mid-plane strip delamination at different
locations. The natural frequencies of free vibration of
woven fiber composite shells decrease with an increase in
temperature and delamination area due to reduction of
stiffness for all laminates.
Prasad et al. (2018) reported experimental and numerical
results on the vibration of woven fiber metal laminated
plates at different boundary conditions. A finite element
(FE)-based formulation used for the plate under the first-
order Reissner-Mindlin theory, fibers and metals of
different material properties in alternate layers.
Study on Vibration Analysis of Hybrid Laminated Composites
World J. Mech. Engin. 037
Rajesh et al. (2016) investigated banana and sisal fiber
randomly oriented reinforced polymer composite for
natural frequency and damping factor. Chemical treatment
increases the modulus of the material and increases the
stiffness of the composite.
Rajesh et al. (2016) reported on dynamic mechanical
analysis and free vibration behavior of intra-ply woven
natural fiber hybrid polymer composite. Warp jute fiber and
weft banana fiber (WJWB) and both warp and weft banana
and jute fiber (WAWBJ) intra-ply hybrid composites have
better dynamic mechanical behavior as relatively stronger
fiber is oriented along the loading direction. Warp and weft
banana and jute fiber intra-ply hybrid composite has low
natural frequencies while huckaback woven and warp
banana fiber and weft jute fiber composites have high
modal damping factors.
Somireddy et al. (2014) presented an application of the
mesh free natural neighbor Galerkin method for the static
and vibration analysis of plates and laminates. The
consistency and convergence of solutions for deflection
and stresses have been studied by varying order of Gauss
quadrature and the number of nodes. It has been observed
that good convergence of results is obtained with increase
in the quadrature points and nodes.
Vas et al. (2017) studied on design and analysis of metal
composite hybrid wheel rim. In order to improve the ride
comfort of an automobile by enhancing the vibrations of
wheel, designed an aluminium-composite hybrid wheel,
subsequently model analysis test carried out to evaluate
its performance. The equivalent deformation in terms of
the 1 node of the hybrid and aluminium wheel 0.120 m
(150 Hz) and 0.120 (151 Hz) respectively in hybrid wheel
the natural frequencies are reduced by 1% when
compared to aluminium. This study is expected to provide
substantial information and data for the design of
advanced metal-composite hybrid wheel with low natural
frequencies and increasing the ride comfort of car, and this
technique can be applied to multitude of machine
components to enhance various mechanical performance
values of metal structure.
Wang et al. (2010) studied free vibration analysis of thin
plates. In the HRK approximation both the deflectional and
rotational degrees of freedom at a generic field point are
considered to construct the approximation of the primary
deflection variable by simultaneously imposing the
reproducing or consistency conditions on the deflection
and rotations.
Zhou et al. (2005) proposed a reproducing kernel particle
method (RKPM) is used to analyze the natural frequencies
of Euler– Bernoulli beams as well as Kirchhoff plates to
predict the forced vibration responses of buried pipelines
due to longitudinal travelling waves. Two different
approaches, Lagrange multipliers as well as
transformation method, are employed to enforce essential
boundary conditions.
Lakshmi and Seetha Rama Rao 038

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Vibration Analysis

Combination of carbon and basalt fabric layers are used to
fabricate hybrid laminated composite and varying the
stacking sequence of fabric layers. 7 different samples are
fabricated and tested to evaluate the tensile properties and
vibration analysis. The 7 different sample stacking
sequences are shown in the figure below.
The vibration test is conducted by using modal analysis
technique with FFT analyzer. It is observed that the natural
frequency for pure carbon composite has the highest value
and with decreasing carbon content the maximum natural
frequency decreases. Hybrid H5 laminate composite
having the minimum natural frequency compared with
other composites. The hybrid laminates with carbon
fabrics at the innermost layers showed higher natural
frequency compared with the carbon fabrics at the
outermost layer.

Figure 2: Stacking sequences of carbon (C) and basalt (B)

fabric layers. Bozkurt et.al (2018).

Tensile Test

The tensile test is conducted by using Universal Testing

Machine and the samples were cut as per the ASTM: D638
standard.

Figure 5: Frequency response curves of hybrid and non-

hybrid laminates. Bozkurt et.al (2018).

Figure 3: Stress-strain curves of hybrid and non-hybrid

laminates. Bozkurt et.al (2018).

Comparison is carried out and observed that the tensile Figure 6: Effect of natural frequency of hybrid laminated
strength for pure carbon composite has the highest value composites.
and with decreasing carbon content the maximum tensile
strength decreases. The tensile strength and modulus of Damping ratio of all laminates were calculated from
elasticity for hybrid laminate H1 composite have relatively frequency response function curve by using half-power
high compared with remaining hybrid laminates. The band width method.
maximum tensile stresses were exerted in the outmost
layers. Therefore, in the hybrid composite H1, carbon
fabrics in the outmost layers bear most of the applied load
and this led to higher tensile strength and modulus.

Figure 4: Tensile modulus of hybrid laminated composite Figure 7: Frequency response curve. Senthil et.al (2014).

Study on Vibration Analysis of Hybrid Laminated Composites


Damping ratio is higher for pure basalt fiber and it
decreases with decreasing basalt fiber content. Hybrid
laminated H5 composite having maximum damping ratio.
The reason for the increase in damping is the lower
stiffness of basalt fiber composites compared to carbon
fiber composites. In addition, the increase in volume
fractions of matrix, which has the primary constituent
governing the viscoelastic behavior of laminates and the
possible voids or pores could be the other sources of
increase in damping ratio.
Figure 8: Damping ratio of hybrid laminated composites
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the hybridization of basalt to carbon gives the
results discussed below.
1. The tensile properties of carbon-basalt/epoxy hybrid
composites strongly depended on the stacking
sequence of carbon and basalt fabric. The hybrid
laminates with carbon fabrics at the outermost layers
showed higher tensile strength and modulus compared
with the carbon fabrics at the innermost layer.
2. Increasing the basalt fiber content in composite the
natural frequency decreases. The hybrid laminates with
carbon fabrics at innermost layers showed lower
frequencies compared with the carbon fabrics at the
outermost layers.
3. Increasing the stiffness of basalt fiber lead to decreases
the damping. And the increase in volume fraction of
matrix and voids or pores damping decreases.
REFERENCES
Basturk, Suleyman, Haydar Uyanık, and Zafer Kazanci.
“Nonlinear damped vibrations of a hybrid laminated
composite plate subjected to blast load.” Procedia
Engineering 88 (2014): 18-25.
Beulah Saripalli, Ratnakar Pandu, and Vijay John.
“Vibration and CFD Analysis of Hybrid Composite
Wing.” International Journal of Novel Research in
Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, vol. 2, Issue 3,
pp: (105-116), Month: September-December 2015.
Biswal, M., S. K. Sahu, and A. V. Asha. “Vibration of
composite cylindrical shallow shells subjected to
Study on Vibration Analysis of Hybrid Laminated Composites
World J. Mech. Engin. 039
hygrothermal loading-experimental and numerical
results.” Composites Part B: Engineering 98 (2016):
108-119.
Bozkurt, Ömer Yavuz, and Muhammet Enver Gökdemir.
“Effect of basalt fiber hybridization on the vibration‐
damping behavior of carbon fiber/epoxy
composites.” Polymer Composites 39, no. S4 (2018):
E2274-E2282.
Chandrashekhar, M., and Ranjan Ganguli. “Nonlinear
vibration analysis of composite laminated and sandwich
plates with random material properties.” International
Journal of Mechanical Sciences 52, no. 7 (2010): 874-
891.
Faroughi, S., E. Shafei, and D. Schillinger. “Isogeometric
stress, vibration and stability analysis of in-plane
laminated composite structures.” International Journal
of Structural Stability and Dynamics 18, no. 05 (2018):
1850070.
Kumar, K. Senthil, I. Siva, P. Jeyaraj, JT WinowlinJappes,
S. C. Amico, and N. Rajini. “Synergy of fiber length and
content on free vibration and damping behavior of
natural fiber reinforced polyester composite
beams.” Materials & Design (1980-2015) 56 (2014):
379-386.
Kumar, K. Vinoth, T. G. Loganathan, A. Bharath, B. Shyam
Sundar, and K. K. Abishek. “Comparative structural
vibration analysis of machinery and GFRP with
Al7075.” In MATEC Web of Conferences, vol. 144, p.
01009. EDP Sciences, 2018.
Mishra, Itishree, and Shishir Kumar Sahu. "Modal analysis
of woven fiber composite plates with different boundary
conditions." International Journal of Structural Stability
and Dynamics 15, no. 01 (2015): 1540001.
Mohanty, J., S. K. Sahu, and P. K. Parhi. “Numerical and
experimental study on free vibration of delaminated
woven fiber glass/epoxy composite
plates.” International Journal of Structural Stability and
Dynamics 12, no. 02 (2012): 377-394.
Nayak, N., S. Meher, and S. K. Sahu. “Experimental and
numerical study on vibration and buckling
characteristics of glass-carbon/epoxy hybrid composite
plates.” In Proc. of Int. Conf. on Advances in Civil
Engineering, AETACE, pp. 888-895. 2013.
Panda, Himanshu Sekhar, Shishir Kumar Sahu, Pravat
Kumar Parhi, and AvittathurVenkiteswaran Asha.
“Vibration of woven fiber composite doubly curved
panels with strip delamination in thermal field.” Journal
of Vibration and Control 21, no. 15 (2015): 3072-3089.
Prasad, E. V., and S. K. Sahu. “Vibration Analysis of
Woven Fiber Metal Laminated Plates—Experimental
and Numerical Studies.” International journal of
structural stability and dynamics 18, no. 11 (2018):
1850144.
Rajesh, M., JeyarajPitchaimani, and N. Rajini. "Free
vibration characteristics of banana/sisal natural fibers
reinforced hybrid polymer composite beam." Procedia
Engineering 144 (2016): 1055-1059.
Rajesh, M., and JeyarajPitchaimani. “Dynamic mechanical
analysis and free vibration behavior of intra-ply woven
Lakshmi and Seetha Rama Rao 040

natural fiber hybrid polymer composite.” Journal of

Reinforced Plastics and Composites 35, no. 3 (2016):
228-242.
Somireddy, Madhukar, and Amirtham Rajagopal.
“Meshless natural neighbor Galerkin method for the
bending and vibration analysis of composite
plates.” Composite Structures111 (2014): 138-146.
Vas, John Paul, Shreeranga Bhat, and Karthik
Madhyastha. “A Study on the Vibration Characteristics
of Bagasse-Banana Fibre Hybrid
Composite.” International Journal of Composite
Materials 7, no. 5 (2017): 150-154.
Wang, Dongdong, and Zhenting Lin. “Free vibration
analysis of thin plates using Hermite reproducing kernel
Galerkin meshfree method with sub-domain stabilized
conforming integration.” Computational Mechanics 46,
no. 5 (2010): 703-719.
Zhou, J. X., H. Y. Zhang, and L. Zhang. “Reproducing
kernel particle method for free and forced vibration
analysis.” Journal of sound and vibration 279, no. 1-2
(2005): 389-402.

Accepted 20 June 2019

Citation: Lakshmi R, Seetha Rama Rao Y. (2019). Study

on Vibration Analysis of Hybrid Laminated Composites.
World Journal of Mechanical Engineering 4(2): 035-040.

Copyright: © 2019: Lakshmi and Seetha Rama Rao. This

is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Study on Vibration Analysis of Hybrid Laminated Composites