Development of fibre-metal laminates for improved impact performance

Abstract

Abstract. An analytical and experimental investigation into the low-velocity behaviour of GLARE Fibre-Metal Laminates (FMLs) has been performed. A quasi-static approach was developed to estimate the perforation energy absorbed between the constituents of GLARE. The analysis considered contact area increase during perforation and strain rate effect on material properties. Particular attention was paid to the effect of ply-angle orientation and aluminium position. Predicted maximum impact force, maximum displacement, and perforation energy related to impact velocity were within 10% of test results. Stacking composite plies oriented along the diagonal of the plate with more than 2 aluminium layers leads to a more impact resistant FML. The generic nature of the developed methodology can support the optimization of high-performance FML concepts.

The Effect of Layer Thicknesses in Hybrid Titanium–Carbon Laminates on Low-Velocity Impact Response

“…The energy absorption process in impact time is presented in Figure 5. The energy-time curves are characterized by the stage of energy increase to a maximum value equal to the kinetic energy of the striking body just before its contact with the laminate and the subsequent decrease in energy to a value depending on the material's energy absorption capacity [16,23,24]. It was noticed that as the energy increases, the difference between maximum energy and absorbed energy changes.…”

“…The authors concluded that the thinning of the brittle constituent layer may influence the strain and ultimately affect the mechanical properties. Morinière et al [23] focused on the ply-angle orientation of GLARE laminates and studied energy distribution in individual layers. The authors concluded that the angle variation of the composite plies had a considerable impact on the impact limit, reaching maximum values when fibers were along the diagonals of the plate.…”

“…An FML concept could provide an impact resistance 70% higher than for the reference at the same weight. Morinière et al [23] also evaluated the role of the material constituents in impact energy absorption. The authors presented the role of aluminum layers in GLARE.…”

“…Based on this, it can be expected that the thickness ratio of components (metal and composite) in FMLs can be a critical factor for energy absorption during impact phenomena, especially in FMLs where the metal plays the dominant role in failure mode (GLARE, titanium/glass laminates). The glass-fiber prepreg layers can withstand considerable deformation and their high membrane stiffness effectively redistributes impact load in the plate's plane [23], which is the stress state base of FMLs under impact load. However, when the carbon fibers are part of an FML, the composite becomes more significant because of the increase in the fiber dominant failure mode.…”

Hybrid polymer composites for high strain rate applications

“…The cross-ply stacking of fibres along the diagonals of aluminum plate and distribution of aluminum layers between glass layers results in up to 70% higher SEA in GLARE compared to a monolithic aluminum plate (Morini ere et al, 2012b). The cross-ply stacking of fibres along the diagonals of aluminum plate and distribution of aluminum layers between glass layers results in up to 70% higher SEA in GLARE compared to a monolithic aluminum plate (Morini ere et al, 2012b).…”