effect of nanoparticle addition to the mechanical proper- ties of composites from carbon and basalt fiber [21] and
different filler fibers [22–25]. However, very few studies have been carried out on the combination of carbon and
basalt fiber laminates.
In this work, we investigated the tensile properties of carbon- and basalt fiber-laminated composites, specifi-
cally focusing on the effect of the number of basalt fiber layers and arrangement position on the carbon fiber com-
posite laminates. The aim of this work was to assess the suitability of basalt fiber as an effective competitor of glass
fiber for the reinforcement of composites. Tensile tests were carried out. The failure surfaces of the composites
were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy SEM.
2 Experimental
2.1 Materials
In the present study, we used plain woven carbon fiber C120-3K; fabric weight = 200 ± 10 gm
2
; fabric thickness = 0.25 ± 0.02 mm purchased from Hyun Dai
Fiber Co. Ltd. Korea, and plain woven basalt fiber EcoB4 F210; fabric weight = 210 ± 10 gm
2
; fabric thick- ness = 0.19 ± 0.20 mm provided by Secotech Korea.
The resin matrix used was a modified bisphenol A epoxy resin HTC-667C; specific gravity = 1.16 ± 0.02;
viscosity = 1.2 ± 0.5 kgm.s with a modified aliphatic amine hardener and was supplied by Jet Korea Co. Korea.
2.2 Composite fabrication
The panels of laminates were manufactured by a vacuum- assisted resin transfer molding VARTM process. VARTM is
an adaptation of the resin transfer molding RTM process that exploits vacuum pressure of 101.32500 kPa to draw
off resin to the impregnate preforms. VARTM presents many benefits in composite fabrication such as low cost,
low void contents, and stable product thickness [22, 26, 27]. The schematic of the present VARTM process is shown in
Figure 1. In this work, a bronze plate with dimensions of 300 mm × 300 mm was prepared and oiled with a liquid wax
for safe release on the top of plate. Sealant tape was then placed around the plate. The carbon and basalt fibers were
both cut with a dimension of 250 mm × 250 mm and arranged on the mold according to the laminate design. Next, epoxy
resin with a hardener mixture ratio of 5:1 after degassing in vacuum desiccators at -70 cmHg for 40 min, was directly
Figure 1 Schematic layout of VARTM: 1 bronze plate, 2 laminate fiber, 3 release films, 4 breather net, 5 vacuum tube, 6 plastic
bag, and 7 sealant tape.
Table 1 Properties of CFRP, BFRP, and hybrid composite with different numbers and arrangement positions of basalt fiber into
the carbon fiberepoxy.
Sample Sample
code Number of fibers
Basalt fiber fraction wt
CF BF
CFRP C
10 62
BFRP B
– 10
61.9 C
4
B
1
C
5
B1 9
1 6.19
C
4
B
2
C
4
B2 8
2 12.4
C
3
B
3
C
4
B3 7
3 18.6
C
3
B
4
C
3
B4 6
4 24.8
C
2
B
5
C
3
B5 5
5 30.9
B
2
C
6
B
2
BC 6
4 24.8
C
2
B
2
C
2
B
2
C
2
CB 6
4 24.8
injected into the impregnated preform at a pressure of -80 kPa using a vacuum pump Airtech Ulvac G-100D, ULVAC
Kiko Incorporated, Japan. The panel was then dried inside an oven at 65
o
C for at least 2 h. In this work, we laminated 10 layers of fibers in every panel, constituting about 62 wt
of the hybrid composite. The thickness of panels manufac- tured through VARTM was approximately 2 mm. The details
of the combination of the fibers are shown in Table 1.
2.3 Tensile test and characterization
