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Subject Area

Material Science and Engineering

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Natural fibre composites offer a sustainable alternative to conventional composite materials. Their mechanical efficiency is influenced by laminate structure and skin material selection. This study presents a comparative finite element analysis and optimisation of coir fibre-reinforced laminates employing either aluminium skins or carbon cloth skins. COMSOL Multiphysics was used to determine their mechanical response. Optimisation was performed using the BOBYQA algorithm to enhance load sharing between the coir core and skin materials. Results indicated that aluminium-skinned laminates achieve superior compressive and flexural performance, achieving a peak compressive strength of 210 MPa and sustaining a flexural load of 0.65 kN at a deflection of 2.2 mm. In contrast, carbon cloth-skinned laminates demonstrate higher tensile strength, reaching 186.6 MPa in the optimised 0°/90° configuration.  Optimisation significantly improved stiffness and load-carrying efficiency in both configurations. The findings highlight fundamentally different load transfer and failure mechanisms between metallic and carbon cloth skins. The study established a design framework for tailoring coir-based laminates according to applications

Keywords

Fiber reinforced composite; Natural fibres; Carbon Cloth Skins; Aluminium Skins

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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