Processing and mechanical characterization of titanium-graphite hybrid laminates

Abstract

Titanium/carbon fiber/epoxy (CF-E) laminates offer many advantages when compared to the traditional metal-fiber laminates and polymer matrix composites for use on aerospace structures. They have many of the advantages of traditional composites such as good strength and stiffness-to-weight ratios. This article displays the mechanical experimental results demonstrating the advantageous influence of titanium/CF-E laminates on specific characteristics of CFRP materials, GLARE (R) and CARALL (R). This hybrid laminate was produced with CF-E prepreg and by titanium foil inside of autoclave system. According to this study, the tensile stress, tensile modulus, shear stress, and shear modulus values for titanium/CF-E laminates are superior when compared with GLARE (R) and CARALL (R) laminates, showing the superiority of this laminate in aerospace applications.