Application of Taguchi methods with optimization of fibre orientation angle of laminated Al/aramid/epoxy composite cardan shaft

Abstract

Optimization of fibre orientation angle of the laminated Al /aramid /epoxy composite cardan shaft using Taguchi methods was carried out in this paper. The aim of the study is to obtain values of fibre orientation angle at which the lowest value of angle of twist of shaft is obtained. The analysis of the fibre orientation angle of the laminated composite shaft has been carried out using ANOVA analysis. The laminated composite shaft consists of a layer of aluminum and eight layers of aramid /epoxy composite whose fibre orientation angle taken into consideration is -45°, 0°, 45° and 90°. To model the cardan shaft, programmes like FEMAP and NeNASTRAN were used, and they helped obtain angles of twist of Al /aramid /epoxy composite cardan shaft at appropriate factor levels. Predicted value of the angle of twist deviated from the experimental one by 1.805%, whereas the value obtained by confirmation test deviated by 1.491% from the experimental value of the angle of twist.