Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 49–57

Effect of hybridisation on crushing behaviour of carbon/glass

fibre/epoxy circular–cylindrical shells
E. Mahdia, A.M.S. Hamoudab,*, B.B. Saharib, Y.A. Khalidb
a
Aerospace Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
b
Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, University Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Received 17 October 2000; received in revised form 6 March 2002; accepted 1 May 2002

Abstract

This study concentrates on the effect of hybridisation on the crushing behaviour, energy absorption and failure mechanism and mode for
composite cylinders. The static crushing behaviour of filament wound laminated (FWL) circular–cylindrical composite shell under uniform
axial load has been investigated experimentally. Five different hybrids and non-hybrid FWL circular–cylindrical composite shell containing
carbon and glass fibres were fabricated. Five types of composites were tested, namely, carbon fibre/epoxy, glass fibre/epoxy, carbon–glass–
glass/epoxy, glass–carbon–glass/epoxy and glass–glass–carbon/epoxy. Failure modes were examined using the photographs taken during the
different crushing stages for each specimen. Failure modes were highly dominated by the effect of hybridisation. The results also showed that
the structure with material sequence of glass–carbon–glass/epoxy exhibited good energy absorption capability.
# 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Keywords: Circular–cylindrical composite shell; Hybridisation; Material sequence; Specific crushing energy; Filament wound laminated; Crushing
behaviour; Splaying mode

1. Introduction viour of hybrid circular shell made of at least two types of

The automotive industry is one of the four largest markets
for composite materials. Rigorous confirmations are arising
from extensive experimental and theoretical investigations
that high performance composites have a capability to
absorb high energy in fracture mechanism [1]. Most
research in the past has focused the attention to the crushing
behaviour of non-hybrid shell composites [2–5]. An exten-
sive study on crushing behaviour of fibre reinforced com-
posite material has been carried out by Hull [6]. From that
work, it was found that the composite materials absorb high
energy, despite that the failure mechanism was fracture at
the surface rather than plastic deformation. Christoforou
and Swanson [7] studied the problem of strength loss in
composite structures due to impact. It appears that the value
of load is highly affected by the crushing distance. Their
model is based on Fourier series expansion to calculate ply
stress and strains. However, the practical requirements
claim for additional and essential work on crushing beha-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: þ603-948-6101-2083;
fax: þ603-8948839.
E-mail address: hamouda@eng.upm.edu.my (A.M.S. Hamouda).
fibre reinforced polymeric matrix (i.e. hybridisation). The
main reason for using hybridisation is the ability to combine
the two or more types of reinforcement in such a way as to
tailor the material to exact needs of structural applications
[8]. Based on the fact that advantages found with one type
of fibre can be used to complement the poor performance
of other type for particular property, the crushing behaviour
of structure made of carbon fibre reinforced polymer com-
posite can be optimised by hybridisation with glass fibre
reinforced polymer composite. Chiu et al. [9] studied
experimentally the crush failure modes of two-dimensional
triaxially braided hybrid composite tubes. They employed
the quasi-static axial compression to investigate the effect of
hybridisation. They observed that the crush failure modes
and energy absorption of the braided composite tubes were
strongly influenced by the fibre types used and their hybrid
kind. Generally, all the energy absorption data generated up
to date have been developed for axial collapse of non-hybrid
circular–cylindrical composite shells. On the other hand,
research work to generate energy absorption data for axial
collapse of hybrid circular–cylindrical composite shells is
still young and few. This is main reason for carrying out this
work.

0924-0136/02/$ – see front matter # 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 2 6 0 - 1
50 E. Mahdi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 49–57

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram for filament winding process.

This paper describes the investigation carried out on
carbon/glass hybrid composite circular–cylindrical shells.
The main aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of
hybridisation and reinforcement sequence on the crushing
behaviour as well as on the energy absorption of circular–
cylindrical shells.
cured FWL cylindrical composite shells were then extracted
from the wooden mandrel using the Instron digital-testing
machine model 8500. The maximum extraction force was
found to be 0.01% of the initial failure load.
3. Geometry and material

2. Fabrication process of FWL composite cylinder
The wet filament winding process was used to fabricate
the specimens of the filament wound laminated (FWL)
cylinder and cone composite shell. The fibre is passed
through a resin bath, causing resin impregnation. This is
followed by the application of wet fibre to the wooden
mandrel to form the FWL composite shells. The schematic
process is shown in Fig. 1. The winding parameters (e.g.
winding tension, winding speed, resin content, resin mixing
time and winding time between layers) are maintained at
constant level during the fabrication period of the 15
cylindrical composite shells. The fabricated FWL cylindri-
cal composite shells were cured at room temperature (32 8C)
for 24 h to provide optimum hardness and shrinkage. The
A total of 15 specimens of FWL glass/carbon hybrid
cylindrical shells were tested in uniaxial compression.
The description and material sequence of FWL carbon/
glass/epoxy hybrid cylinder are shown in Table 1 and
Fig. 2, respectively. The average volume fraction of glass
fibres and carbon fibres is 0.52 and 0.56, respectively. All the
specimens were of 110 mm height, 100 mm outer diameter
and 3 mm wall thickness (see Fig. 3).
4. Test procedure
Static crushing tests were carried out using an Instron
8500 digital-testing machine with a full-scale load range of
250 kN. Load platens were set parallel to each other prior to

Table 1
Description of FWL carbon/glass/epoxy hybrid cylinder

Inner (908) Middle (558) Outer (908) Base diameter (D1) (mm) Height (HTOT) (mm) Wall thickness (mm)

C C C 100 110 3
G G G 100 110 3
G G C 100 110 3
G C G 100 110 3
C G G 100 110 3
 E. Mahdi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 49–57 51

Fig. 2. Material sequence of FWL carbon/glass hybrid circular–cylindrical shell.

Fig. 3. Notation used for the FWL carbon/glass hybrid circular–cylindrical shell.

the initiation of the test. The entire FWL glass/carbon hybrid
cylinder shell specimens were compressed 0.95% at a strain
rate of 1.524 s. The load and displacement were recorded by
an automatic data acquisition system. Three tests were
performed on each type of specimens.
the material condensation process takes place and the load
increases sharply to the final crushed stage.
6. Crushing process

All the specimens were crushed progressively from one

5. Load–displacement of G/C hybrid
circular–cylindrical shells
The typical load–displacement curves are presented to
exemplify the effect of reinforcement sequence on the
crushing behaviour of C/G hybrid circular–cylindrical com-
posite shell as shown in Fig. 4. Load–displacement curve
shows a linear relation up to the initial failure stage. After
that, the load falls sharply, where a micro-fragmentation was
observed at the two end parts of the cylinders. After the first
reduction of load, the load fluctuates constantly with sharp
peaks and troughs increasing with displacement. After that
end by splaying mode. In the crushing process, the axial load
increased linearly up to the initial failure, where micro-
fragmentation was observed at the top portion of the CGG
and GGC (see Figs. 5 and 6), while the micro-fragmentation
was observed at the bottom portion of the GCG (see Fig. 7).
This mainly attributed to the reinforcement sequence. In
general, the crushing process, of FWL glass/carbon hybrid
composite circular–cylindrical shell, is dominated by the
interlaminar cracks propagating between the layers in the
crushed zone forming lamina bundles. The lamina bundles
resist the applied loads and fall down when the volume of the
lamina bundles reaches a critical value. Some specimens
52 E. Mahdi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 49–57

Fig. 4. Load–displacement curve for the FWL carbon/glass hybrid circular–cylindrical shell.

exhibit a change in the crushing mode. They begin to crush
in a fracture mode at the top end (at fixed end) then change to
shear failure around the middle portion of FWL glass/carbon
hybrid composite circular–cylindrical shell. This change in
crushing mode results in a significant load drop.
7. Failure mode of G/C hybrid circular–cylindrical
shells
All the specimens were first crushed at both ends of the
cylinder in transverse cracking splaying mode failure. The
failure zone acts as a low modulus zone causes the load to
drop sharply. This is in qualitative agreement with the load–
displacement curve. Two crushing patterns were observed
and described in the proceeding paragraphs.
For the CGG cylinder, as the load picked up again, after
the initial failure, the FWL hybrid composite cylinder shell
wall expanded outward and cracked. The interface delami-
nation between the carbon layer and the glass fibre layer is
increasing slowly with increasing load level as shown in
Fig. 8. Thereafter, shear failure mode, interlaminar crack
and delamination mode interact together to form the non-
linear behaviour of the specimens. On the other hand for the
 E. Mahdi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 49–57 53

Fig. 5. Typical crushing history of FWL CGG under axial compressive load.

Fig. 6. Typical crushing history of GGC under axial compressive load.

GCG cylinder, as the platen moving upwards the failure
mode changed into transverse cracks at the middle section of
the cylinder. Splitting the cylinder into two approximately
equal segments as shown in Fig. 9 has advanced the trans-
verse cracks. These segments were forced by the axial load
to slide in each other. As the load increased the glass layers
fractured due to transverse and axial shear cracks, and the
carbon layers were buckled and bent inward due to the axial
force. For the GGC, as the platen moves upward, the failure
mode changed into transverse cracks at the middle section of
the cylinder. The transverse cracks are highly evolved by
splitting the cylinder into two segments. These segments
were forced by the axial load slide into each other. As the
load increased the carbon layers fractured and bent outward
due to transverse shear, while the glass layers were debonded
due to matrix failure as well as fibre breakage as shown in
Fig. 10.
8. Crushing energy absorption of G/C hybrid
circular–cylindrical shells
The energy absorbed during the crushing process is the
area under load–displacement curve. However, using the
area for comparing the energy absorption capability of
different structures is misleading for many composite struc-
ture problems. Therefore, the specific crushing energy (ES)
which is independent of the structure geometry was used for

Fig. 7. Typical crushing history of FWL GCG under axial compressive load.
54 E. Mahdi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 49–57

Fig. 8. Optical micrograph of a section through the crush zone for CGG at initial crushing with magnification of 100 mm.

comparing the energy absorption of the FWL glass/epoxy, where

carbon/epoxy and the hand laid up oil palm frond fibre/
epoxy cylindrical shells. Specific crushing energy (ES) is A ¼ 14 pD21 (2)
obtained by using the equation:
 is the mean crush load obtained by averaging the crushing
P
P
ES ¼ (1) loads over the crush displacements through the stable load–
Ar displacement stage.

Fig. 9. Optical micrograph of a section through the crush zone for GCG at initial crushing with magnification of 100 mm.
 E. Mahdi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 49–57 55

Fig. 10. Optical micrograph of a section through the crush zone for GGC at initial crushing with magnification of 100 mm.

The density of circular–cylindrical shells is calculated by The volume occupied by the circular–cylindrical shell
using the equation: before crushing can be calculated as the product of cross-
section area and the total height (HTOT).
M The specific crushing energy absorption Es of three glass/
r¼ (3)
V epoxy and carbon/epoxy FWL hybrid composite cylinder

Fig. 11. Initial (ICL), average (ACL) failure load, specific crushing energy (SCE) and structural volume reduction (SVR) of the FWL carbon/glass hybrid
circular–cylindrical shell.
56 E. Mahdi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 49–57

Table 2
Crush loads specific energy absorption and structural volume reduction of FWL glass/carbon hybrid composite circular–cylindrical shells

Specimen type Initial crushing failure load Mean crushing failure load Specific energy absorption Structural volume reduction

PICL (kN) S.D. (%) PMCL (kN) S.D. (%) ES (kJ/kg) S.D. (%) VR (%) S.D. (%)

CCC 156.00 1.45 64.00 1.23 29.00 2.54 78.0 3.43

GGG 71.00 1.20 45.00 1.65 24.00 2.48 93.0 3.09
CGG 59.26 1.85 45.20 2.23 18.86 2.56 83.07 3.08
GGC 33.40 1.64 22.26 2.05 9.29 2.36 85.47 2.83
GCG 92.68 1.44 62.52 1.51 26.09 1.73 71.39 2.08

Fig. 12. Ratio between the initial and average crush loads.
 E. Mahdi et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 132 (2003) 49–57
shell has been obtained and presented in Fig. 11 and listed in
Table 2. The GCG shells have been observed to exhibit the
highest Es value of 26.087 kJ/kg, while the CGG and GGC
have Es values of 18.86 and 9.29 kJ/kg, respectively.
9. Structural volume reduction of G/C hybrid
circular–cylindrical shells
Reduction in volume or space occupied by the glass/epoxy
and carbon/epoxy/epoxy FWL hybrid composite cylinder
shell is found to be significant. The structural volume reduc-
tion (VR) has been evaluated and seems to fall between
85.47% for GGC, and 71.39% for GCG. It was also noticed
that GCG shows high stiffness value and as the stiffness
increases the structural volume reduction (VR) decreases.
The results of specific crushing energy, structural volume
reduction, initial crushing failure and mean crushing failure
load were plotted in Fig. 11 and listed in Table 2.
10. The effect of hybridisation on crush failure loads
The high stiffness–weight ratio of composites makes them
potentially attractive up to initial failure stage. The initial
crush failure loads of circular–cylindrical composite shells
were calculated and given in Table 2. The values obtained
show that the CCC specimen has the largest value of 156 kN
followed by GCG specimen, which has a value of 96 kN.
The two lowest initial crush failure loads noticed were for
the GGC and CGG, respectively. In general, the initial crush
failure loads of the hybrid cylinders were mainly influenced
by the carbon layer sequence instead of glass layers. How-
ever, wide exploitation of advanced composites in energy
absorber designs will depend to a large degree on the ability
to support loads (average crush loads) well beyond the initial
failure stage. It is interesting to exemplify the average crush
loads relative to the initial crush failure loads of hybrid
cylinders. Accordingly, a non-dimensional plot that provides
such information is presented in Fig. 12. Within the scope of
this study, the CGG specimens have the highest ratio of 0.76,
while the pure carbon/epoxy (CCC) specimens seem to be
the worst with a ratio of 0.41. In general, if the maximum
ratio between the average and initial crush loads is the
important factor, then the hybrid cylinder of carbon fibre/
epoxy at outer layer seems to be the best choice as obtained
from in this investigation.
11. Discussion
The objective of the paper has been achieved. The crush
failure modes of those three different hybrid composite
circular–cylindrical shells are categorised into two different
types: splaying mode and splaying-transverse mode. The
reinforcement sequence showed to have a major effect on the
57
crushing behaviour as well as the energy absorption of the
hybrid composite circular–cylindrical shells. From the
energy absorption capability point of view, GCG seem to
stand higher compressive load other when compared to the
other types of cylinders tested. This is due to the fact that the
interface of this reinforcement sequence is more adequate
than the CGG and GGC.
12. Conclusion
Glass/carbon FWL hybrid circular–cylindrical shells
were fabricated. Static crushing tests of FWL C/G hybrid
circular–cylindrical shells were conducted to study the effect
of hybridisation and the reinforcement sequence on the
crushing behaviour and energy absorption. Based upon
the test results the following remarks can be made:
1. The static crushing behaviour of FWL C/G hybrid
circular–cylindrical shell is strongly affected by the
reinforcement sequence.
2. GCG exhibited good energy absorption capability
compared to CGG and GGC.
3. The transverse crack created caused a catastrophic drop
in load–displacement curve.
4. Volume reduction has also been investigated and found
to be significant.
5. As the stiffness increases for the composite shells tested,
the volume reduction reduces.
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