Mechanical behavior of fiber reinforced polymer / metal laminate and aluminum foam sandwich composites

Abstract

In this study, fibre/metal laminated (FMLs) containing glass fibre reinforced polypropylene (GFPP) and aluminium (Al) sheet were developed and consolidated with aluminium foam cores of varying thicknesses (8, 20 and 30 mm) for preparing the sandwich panels. The laminated systems were fabricated by hot pressing technique. The bonding among the composite/metal interface was achieved by silane coupling agent modification or polypropylene (PP) based film introduction containing 20 wt. % a maleic anhydride modified polypropylene (PP-g-MA). Quasi-static compression and bending behaviours of sandwich structures together with their energy absorption characteristics were also investigated and evaluated

Keywords

• Fiber/Metal Laminates (FMLs), foam materials, sandwich composites, interfacial bonding techniques.

References

1. Kıratisaevee H and Cantwell WJ. The impact response of aluminium foam sandwich structures based on a glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene fiber-metal laminate. Polymer Composites, 2004;25:499-509.
2. Russo A and Zuccarello B. Experimental and numerical evaluation of the mechanical behavior of gfrp sandwich panels. Composite Structures, 2007;81, 575-586.
3. Ashby MF, Evans AG, Fleck NA, Gibson LJ, Hutchinson JW and Wadley HNG. Metal foams: A Design Guide, USA, Butterworth-Heinemann Publications, 2000.
4. McCullough KYG, Fleck NA, and Ashby MF. Uniaxial stress-strain behavior of aluminum alloy foams. Acta Materials, 1999;47(8):2323-2330
5. Deqing W and Weiwei X. Cell structure and compressive behavior of aluminum foam. Journal of Material Science, 2005;40:3475-3480.
6. Reyes G and Cantwell WJ. The Mechanical Properties of fiber-metal laminates based on glass fiber reinforced polypropylene. Composites Science and Technology, 2000;60:1085-1094.
7. Langdon GS, Cantwell WJ and Nurick GN. The blast response of novel thermoplastic- based fibre-metal laminates–some preliminary results and observations. Composites Science and Technology, 2005;65:861-1872.
8. Russo A and Zuccarello B. Experimental and numerical evaluation of the mechanical behavior of gfrp sandwich panels. Composite Structures, 2007;81:575-586.

9. Steeves CA and Fleck NA. Collapse mechanisms of sandwich beams with composite faces and a foam core, loaded in three-point bending, Part 2: Experimental investigation and numerical modeling. International Journal of Mechanical Siences, 2004;46:585-608.
10. Styles M, Compston P and Kalyanasundaram S. The effect of core thickness on the flexural behavior of aluminium foam sandwich strucrures. Composite Structures, 2007;80:532-538.
11. Tanoğlu M, Baştürk SB and Merter NE. Mechanical and energy absorption behaviour of metal/polymer layered sandwich structures. 14th European Conference on Composite Materials(ECCM’10), Budapest, Hungary, 2010.
12. www.dowcorning.com