Progressive failure analysis of the fiber metal laminates based on chopped carbon fiber strands

Abstract

In this study, we propose a new fiber metal laminate based on unidirectionally arrayed chopped strand (UACS) reinforced aluminum sheets, referred to as UACS/Al laminate. UACS is made by introducing slits into unidirectional carbon fiberreinforced plastic (CFRP) prepreg. Due to the presence of discontinuous fibers, the microstructure of the UACS/Al laminate is much more complicated than the conventional fiber metal laminate, which also results in a failure progression that is more complicated. Tensile failure of the UACS/Al laminate might occur as combination of intra-laminar damage at the slits, inter-laminar damage at the interfaces, in-ply damage of the CFRP, and plastic deformation of the aluminum plies. Fabrication and tensile tests of UACS/Al laminate specimens were performed. A two-dimensional finite element model was developed with intra-laminar cohesive elements inserted into the slits of the UACS plies and with inter-laminar cohesive elements inserted into the interfaces between all laminas in the modelled UACS/Al laminates. A numerical study is conducted to investigate the influence of the shape of the cohesive laws on the FEA predictions. The combined experimental and numerical studies provide a detailed understanding of the failure progression of UACS/Al laminates under tensile load.

Bond behavior of carbon fabric reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) composites considering matrix impregnation

“…11(b). Such a softening behavior can also be assumed for the fiber reinforced polymer that exhibits the progressive failure [40,41]. As can be seen in Fig.…”

Influence of fiber length on the tensile behavior of fiber metal laminates with discontinuous reinforcement

“…Details regarding the cohesive laws can be found in our previous study. 17…”

“…Since no fiber breakage was observed in the tensile tests before finally sudden fracture of UACS plies, no damage propagation option was specified in the numerical simulations and only in-ply damage initiation criteria were active for the sake of simplicity. 17 Hashin damage parameters used in this study are listed in Table 4.…”

“…In previous studies, 16,17 we had investigated the effect of slit angles on the tensile behavior of the UACS/Al laminate with fibers 25 mm in length. This paper focused on the influence of fiber length because the fiber length is one of the most fundamental factors in tailoring the UACS/Al laminate.…”

Numerical and digital image correlation analysis of tensile behavior of thin-ply hybrid laminates with discontinuous carbon sandwiched by continuous glass and carbon

“…Finite element analysis study on chopped carbon prepreg with an aluminum sheet could predict the tensile behavior of the composite compared to experimental results using CZM and the Hashin damage criterion. 29,30 However, a two-dimensional finite element model was used, which simplifies the elastic equations to two-dimensional. Moreover, it is essential to observe the deformation of the materials under loading to understand the deformation trends that lead to the pseudo-ductile behavior.…”