THIN FIBER METAL LAMINATE: EXPERIMENTAL AND ANALYTICAL DETERMINATION OF STIFFNESS AND STRENGTH FOR VARIOUS FIBER ORIENTATIONS

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the efficiency of the rule of mixture prediction on thin FML with various fiber orientations. FML and GFRP were fabricated from prepreg. All the specimens were prepared by adopting the ASTM D3039 testing standard and the thickness of GFRP and FML were 0.83 mm ~ 0.85 mm and 1.39 mm ~ 1.50 mm, respectively. The tensile tests were performed on a Universal Testing Machine (UTM) at 8 mm/min of crosshead speed. The experimental results showed that the fiber with 0˚ orientation provided the best tensile properties in comparison with fiber orientations of 90˚ and 0˚/90˚. As in FML, the incorporation of aluminum layers in the composite laminate improved the stiffness of the composite; 0˚, 0˚/90˚ and 90˚ in that order. However, the tensile strength of FML was lower than its GFRP composite counterpart except for 90˚ orientation. Analytical prediction for the stiffness and strength of thin FML using metal volume fraction (MVF) method showed a good correlation to the experimental results with certain degree of accuracy. In conclusion, the fiber orientation significantly influenced the tensile properties of thin GFRP composite and thin FML. Meanwhile, analytical MVF method can effectively predict the thin FML stiffness and strength.