Influence of damages (hole/slits) on tensile behavior of Al 7075-T6/glass fibre-based hybrid laminates

Abstract

The metal alloy and polymer composite-based hybrid laminates (fibre metal laminates) have significant importance over other materials used in aircraft, automobile industry and in other structural applications due to their low density, better mechanical properties, good corrosion and wear resistance etc. But these laminates are easily susceptible to damages in working environment. So, in the present study, the tensile strength experiment is conducted on two glass fibre laminated aluminum alloy (Al 7075-T6) specimens in undamaged and damaged conditions to understand the impact of damages on tensile behavior of these hybrid laminates. 9.03%, 27.8%, 40.36% of reduction in tensile strength was observed by incorporation of 10 mm hole, 1 mm slit, 2.5 mm slit damages respectively. It is observed from the results that 2.5 mm cut is highly influencing the tensile behavior of fibre metal laminate compared to other damages due to its rapid crack propagation through the specimen. For hole damaged laminates, there may be reduction in the static tensile strength due to the absence of stress relaxation through the damage, which leads to high stress concentration around this damage and brittle failure, consequently.