Kevlar K29/PAN-Based Carbon Fibre Hybrid Composites for Aerospace Structures: A Critical Review of Architecture, Processing, Damage and Design

Musthafa B; Saravanan B; Ragunath N

doi:10.34256/famr2613

Musthafa B Department of Automobile Engineering, B. S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Saravanan B Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Shakthi Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Ragunath N Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Shakthi Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

Keywords: Aerospace Composites, Aramid Fibre, Carbon Fibre, Damage Tolerance, Hybrid Laminate, Impact, Kevlar K29, PAN-Based Carbon Fibre

Abstract

Hybridisation of high-modulus carbon fibres with impact-tolerant aramid fibres is an established strategy for mitigating the brittle damage response of carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers while retaining structural efficiency. This review critically evaluates Kevlar K29/polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon-fibre hybrid composites for aerospace structures, with emphasis on constituent behaviour, hybrid architecture, manufacturing routes, mechanical performance, damage mechanisms, environmental durability, modelling, inspection and certification. The literature shows that the hybrid effect is not an intrinsic material constant; it emerges from interactions among fibre modulus mismatch, strain-to-failure mismatch, ply location, areal density, matrix toughness, interface chemistry, impact energy and test geometry. Carbon-face/Kevlar-core laminates generally preserve flexural rigidity and compression-after-impact strength, whereas Kevlar-rich outer layers improve penetration resistance and visible damage tolerance at the cost of surface stiffness and compressive stability. Interply hybrids are easier to manufacture and certify, while intraply woven, braided and three-dimensional architectures provide more distributed energy absorption but introduce complex mesoscale stress transfer and modelling requirements. Vacuum infusion, resin-transfer moulding, prepreg-autoclave processing and emerging out-of-autoclave routes are compared in terms of void control, fibre wet-out, thickness uniformity and scalability. Persistent limitations include delamination, moisture-sensitive aramid interfaces, difficult machining, poor through-thickness conductivity, property scatter and a shortage of standardised long-duration fatigue and environmental datasets. A design framework is proposed that links mission loading to laminate architecture, processing quality, damage-tolerance metrics and non-destructive inspection. Future progress requires multi-objective optimisation, physics-informed damage models, in-situ sensing, recyclable matrices and full-scale validation under combined impact, fatigue, temperature and moisture exposure.

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