Abstract
Conventional materials made of glass and carbon fibres in thermoset resins are very frequently employed. Recently, thermoplastic matrix composites are being developed to improve the toughness and damage tolerance of composite laminates. The ductility of thermoplastic resins implies a more pronounced plasticity in service. Kevlar fibre has a tensile strength comparable with that of carbon fibre, a modulus between those of glass and carbon fibres and a lower density than both. Kevlar-49 reinforced composites are increasingly demanded in a variety of commercial applications but their understanding is relatively new when compared to traditional fibres. Simple micromechanics based models such as the rule of mixtures, inverse rule of mixtures (ROM), Halpin-Tsai and Xu-Reifsnider models are employed to predict the mechanical properties of Kevlar-49 fibre composites formulations. In this study, the mechanical properties including tensile, compressive and flexural strength and modulus of Kevlar-49 thermoplastic based composites were experimentally obtained and compared with the theoretical predictions. A systematic costing analysis of respective thermoplastic composites has been made for the provision of composite selection guidelines for designers.