Experimental investigation on modal characteristics of plain woven glass/carbon hybrid composite beams with fixed-free end condition

This paper presents an investigation on modal characteristics of plane woven glass/carbon hybrid composite beams with fixed-free end condition by experimentally. The composite beam specimens are extracted from composite laminates of 16 layers with different hybrid configurations fabricated using vacuum bagging technique. Experimentations have been performed to measure vibrational characteristics of beams. Based on the investigation, it has been revealed that hybridisation affects the vibration characteristics. First two natural frequencies of beam are increased by the use of higher stiffness fibres in the upper layer. The damping effect in the beam with carbon fibre as middle layer is found to be higher as compared to the dedicated plain woven glass composites.