4 - Characteristics of a new class of lightweight and tailorable 3D fiber metal laminates

Abstract

The 2014 "Clean Power Plan" calling by President Obama initiated a renewed surge in research with the goal of developing cost-effective lightweight and resilient materials for primary use in transport vehicles, aiming to mitigate carbon dioxide gas emissions to our environment. In response, many researchers started synthesizing and hybridizing different materials, including nanomaterials, with the aim of developing materials that could provide optimal responses against static, dynamic and fatigue loadings and crashworthiness as well as being environmentally sustainable. Novel fiber-metal laminates (FMLs), which take advantage of the plastic and ductile responses of metallic alloys in conjunction with the lightweight and tailorable nature of fiber-reinforced composites have been demonstrated to be an effective means to reach a sensible and effective solution to the mentioned mandate. In addition, the incorporation of nanoparticles in such hybridized material systems has also proven to further enhance the exemplary stiffness and capacity that FMLs offer. This chapter, therefore, provides a summary of different classes of FMLs, followed by the improvement in the response of these exemplary material systems by the inclusion of nanoparticles. The most recent advancement in the development of three-dimensional FMLs that provide an improved response in comparison to their two-dimensional counterparts in a cost-effective and efficient manner will also be presented.