The delamination buckling of single-fibre system and interply hybrid composites

The delamination buckling behaviour of single-fibre system and interply hyb rid composites are studied. Due to the complicated combination of interply hybrid composites, the number of glass-fibre layers and the stacking sequen ce are varied to contrast their effects upon the buckling behaviour. Non-li near buckling analysis, which is a finite element method including contact elements to prevent the overlapping situation, was applied to predict the d elamination buckling loads of the composites and compared with the experime ntal buckling loads. It is evident that non-linear buckling analysis predic ts results that are close to the experimental results, and is, therefore, a good choice to precisely predicting buckling loads. For both types of comp osite, as expected, if the delamination length increases or the delaminatio n is close to the surface of the laminate, the buckling load is significant ly reduced. For interply hybrid composites, the number of glass-fibre layer s and the different stacking sequences have pronounced effects on the buckl ing loads and must be carefully considered in design. Critical delamination length is also discussed for both types of composite. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.