Effect of high strain rate on tensile response and failure analysis of titanium/glass fiber reinforced polymer composites

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The high strain rate tensile response of titanium-based fiber metal laminates (FMLs), consisting of layers of titanium Ti-6Al-4V alloy sheet and glass fiber reinforced composites, is examined. A hand layup method is used to fabricate four different layups of FMLs, exhibiting the same thickness of the total metal layer. A split Hopkinson tensile bar apparatus is used to load titanium and composite under a high strain rate to obtain baseline data. High-speed digital image correlation is used to measure the strain directly on the specimen gage region. The elastic-plastic response of FMLs up to maximum stress is predicted by the classical laminated plate model and orthotropic plasticity model. This is followed by a behavior considering the mechanics of delamination. The results show that the layup sequence of titanium-based FMLs considerably affects the failure behavior of composites following ultimate strength. This strength increases at high strain rates and seems higher for titanium-based FMLs than aluminium-based FMLs. This is primarily caused by the rate-dependent response of the titanium and composite. The failure strain of glass fiber reinforced epoxy (GFRP) constituent, failure strain, and toughness of FMLs are affected by isolating composite layers by metallic layers within FMLs and are found to be rate sensitive. Isolation of composite layers from one another by metallic layers results in more progressive failure of FMLs. The proposed models are validated with experiments of aluminium-based FMLs available in the literature.