Experimental and numerical study on the tensile, three-point-bending, and interlaminar fracture toughness of GLARE

Abstract

Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) are a special type of composite structure consisting of metal sheets bonded to composite laminas. The current study investigated the effect of the replacement of cross-ply (0/90°) glass fiber reinforced epoxy laminas with woven glass fiber reinforced polyester laminas in GLARE laminates on the tensile, bending and interlaminar fracture toughness of the laminate. Test results showed that the existence of woven glass fiber laminas increased the tensile strength with a decrease in corresponding strain, the flexure strength decreased significantly due to the existence of polyester instead of epoxy resin, and the mode I interlaminar fracture toughness increased. ABAQUS® software was used to simulate the tests, and ductile damage was employed to detect the failure of aluminum layers, the Hashin failure criteria to model the failure of composite layers in the laminate, and the cohesive surface interaction to capture delamination between layers.