Experimental and Finite Element Methods in Determining the Flexural Properties of Fibre Metal Laminate Composites

Abstract

The study consisting of two stages is carried out to better interpret the damage processes occurring in fibre metal laminate (FML) composite samples. At the first stage, a three-dimensional geometric-data-based model of FML composites is created using the finite element method and used to predict the flexural strength properties according to the ASTM D3039M standard. At the second stage, 7075-T6 Al matrix FML composite samples with 0.0% epoxy, 0.2% graphene, 0.2% SiO2, and 0.2% clay nanoparticles’ addition are prepared in the laboratory environment in line with the numerical model, and their flexural strength properties are examined. As a result of the experiments, it is observed that the addition of 0.2% SiO2 nanoparticles improves the flexural strength properties of 7075-T6 Al matrix FML composite samples by 50.2% in comparison with such properties of composites prepared with epoxy resin. This value is the highest bending-strength value among sample groups with the same ratio. As a result of the studies, it is observed that there is a 5% difference between the flexural-test results for the FML composite samples made according to the ASTM D3039M standard and the simulation results made within the ANSYS program.

Keywords

• fml composite
• flexural strength
• nanoparticle
• finite element method