Comparative Study of Fiber Metal Laminates (FMLs) and Aluminum Skins for Polypropylene (PP) Honeycomb Core Sandwich Structure under Low Velocity Impact Loads

Abstract

In this study, the impact responses of sandwich structure with both FML and aluminum skins were compared. The force-time histories from the low-velocity drop weight impact tester were recorded under various impact energies. Energy absorbed from the two types of sandwich structures under various impact energies were also calculated by measuring its initial velocity before impact from a series of recorded high speed camera pictures and force-time histories. Based on results obtained, pure aluminum skins with PP honeycomb core that being impacted by lower impact energies shows higher absorbed energies as compared to FML skins. However with higher impact energies the FML skins shows improvement over the aluminum with higher energy absorption capacity. Damages created were also being characterized under optical microscope for further investigation.