Abstract
In recent years, the use of hybrid composites, in which natural fibers combine with synthetic fibers, in place of composite structures consisting only of synthetic fibers has become increasingly popular due to growing environmental concerns and the need to develop sustainable, more lightweight, recyclable materials required for engineering applications. In this regard, the present paper is an attempt to show the usage of sitka spruce as an alternative to synthetic E-glass fiber and natural flax fiber in design of interply hybrid composite structures in terms of fundamental frequency, buckling resistance and weight. The single-objective and multi-objective approaches are considered to acquire optimum design for non-hybrid and hybrid structures. The modified versions of the optimization methods Differential Evolution (MDE), Nelder Mead (MNM) and Simulated Annealing (MSA) algorithms are considered to solve problems. The results show that the optimum design of the hybrid graphite/epoxy-sitka spruce laminated plate to obtain the structure having a more lightweight (e.g., 53%), higher frequency (e.g., 65%) and buckling resistance (e.g., 90%) was computed and compared with those of the hybrid graphite-flax/epoxy, neat sitka spruce, neat flax/epoxy and neat glass/epoxy laminated composite plates.
Data availability statement
The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time due to technical or time limitations.
Funding
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.