The Guidelines of Material Design and Process Control on Hybrid Fiber Metal Laminate for Aircraft Structures

Abstract

Fiber metal laminate (FML) is a hybrid material system that consists of thin metal sheets bonded into a laminate with intermediate thin fiber reinforced composite layers. The aerospace industry has recently increased their use of FMLs due to the considerable weight reduction and consequent benefits for critical load-carrying locations in commercial aircraft, such as upper fuselage skin panels. All FML materials and their processes should be qualified through enough tests and fabrication trials to demonstrate reproducible and reliable design criteria. In particular, proper surface treatment technologies are prerequisite for achieving long-term service capability through the adhesive bonding process. This chapter introduces a brief overview of design concept, material properties and process control methodologies to provide detailed background information with engineering practices and to help ensure stringent quality controls and substantiation of structure integrity. The guidelines and information found in this chapter are meant to be a documentation of current knowledge and an application of sound engineering principles to the FML part development for aerospace usage.

A Review on Mechanical Properties and Response of Fibre Metal Laminate under Impact Loading (Experiment)

“…ARALL is the first development of FML, created in 1978 at Delft University of Technology's Laboratory of Structures and Materials of Aerospace Engineering Faculty 16,17,22,23,27,28) . However, ARALL has low fibre-toadhesive contact strength, resulting in poor peel strength and inter-laminar shear characteristics 26) .…”