• Composites Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.8-16
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• 2007

Bending collapse of light-weight square tubes used for vehicle structure components is a dominant failure mode in oblique collision and rollover of vehicles. In this paper bending performances of aluminum-GFRP hybrid tube beams were evaluated in relation with bending deformation behavior and energy absorption characteristics. Aluminum/GFRP hybrid tube beams fabricated by inserting adhesive film between prepreg and metal layer were used in the bending test. Failure mechanisms of hybrid tubes under a bending load were experimentally investigated to analyze the bending performance as a function of ply orientation and composite layer thickness. Ultimate bending moments and energy absorption capacity of hybrid tube beams were obtained from the measured load-displacement corves. It was found that aluminum/GFRP hybrid tubes could be converted to rather stable collapse mode showing excellent energy absorption capacity in comparison to the pure aluminum tube beams. In particular, the hybrid tube beam with $[0^{\circ}/90^{\circ}]s$ composite layer showed a large improvement by about 78% in energy absorption capacity and by 29% in specific energy absorption.