Dynamic Loading on Carbon Fiber Wind to HDPE Composite Pipe (CFWHCP)

• Main Author: Abd Aziz, Mohd Naqiuddin Afiq
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: IRC 2015
• Subjects: TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/16180/1/Dissertation_16802.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/16180/
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Petronas

Carbon fiber composite is regarded as one of the best alternative for light weight and anticorrosion material. Filament winding is one of the technique for the fabrication of carbon fiber reinforced composite pipe that is cheap and better mechanical properties. Different carbon fiber orientation during the fabrication will have impact to the mechanical properties of the composite and became the focal point of this research. Three different arrangement of tow were used during the fabrication of Carbon Fiber Wind to HDPE Composite Pipe (CFWHCP). The other parameter such as winding angle, winding tension, the number of layers and epoxy content are kept constant to prevent interference in the result. The microstructure of fabricated pipes were tested to calculate the area of void. The results from the test shown that area of void for CFWHP with 4 tows of 12k carbon fiber (1.26382x10-8 m2) is smaller by 53% compared to CFWHCP with 2 tows of 12k carbon fiber plus 4 tows of 6k carbon fiber. Compression test was carried out to approve the hypothesis that different arrangement of tow can affect the mechanical properties of CFWHCP. Subsequently, dynamic impact test was carried out to study how CFWHCP will be affected under the impact and comparison was made between pipes of different tow arrangement and in addition with blank High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipe. From the experiment, it can be concluded that CFWHCP with 4 tows of 12k carbon fiber exhibit higher energy absorption, and can withstand higher load compared to CFWHCP with 2 tows of 12k carbon fiber plus 4 tows of 6k carbon fiber. This is due to smaller area of void detected on CFWHCP with 4 tows of 12k carbon fiber thus proven that different orientation of carbon fiber tow during manufacturing can impact the mechanical properties of CFWHCP.