Fabrication and mechanical properties of Ti/APC-2 hybrid nanocomposite laminates at elevated temperatures

Abstract

The Ti/APC-2 hybrid cross-ply nanocomposite laminates were successfully fabricated by the modified diaphragm curing process. The titanium thin sheets were surface treated by chromic acid anodizing to achieve superior bonding with APC-2 laminates. The nanoparticles SiO₂ were uniformly spread on the interfaces of APC-2. The tensile tests at room and elevated temperatures were conducted to obtain the mechanical properties. It is interesting to find a knee point in each stress–strain curve. To predict and verify the feature of knee point the residual stresses and strains were calculated by simple methods. Adopting the residual stress effect and rule of mixtures, the analytical stress–strain curves at elevated temperatures were obtained. The data and mechanisms of the knee point in hybrid laminates were verified and highlighted. The predicted results of ultimate strength, longitudinal stiffness and the knee point are all in very good agreement with the experimental data.