Investigation on graphene addition on the quasi-static and dynamic responses of carbon fibre-reinforced metal laminates
Thin-Walled Structures • 2022
Publication Information
Authors
Shuo Wang, Meng Cao, Hongqian Xue, Sherif Araby, Fethi Abbassi, Yanli He, Weiguo Su, Qingshi Meng
Keywords
Not Available
Journal
Thin-Walled Structures
Publisher
Not Available
Volume
174
Issue
Not Available
Pages
Not Available
publication.type
International
Paper Link
Open Link
Supplementary Materials
Not Available
Abstract
In this paper, graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs) were used with carbon fibre/epoxy composite to enhance the mechanical performance of fibre metal laminates (FMLs). The designed FMLs are composed of thin aluminium alloy layers alternating with carbon-fibre epoxy/GnP composite plies with a chemical treatment performed on the aluminium laminate to promote adhesion strength with the epoxy composite. Two different configurations of FMLs were investigated (i) composite plies with unidirectional carbon fibres (U-FMLs) and (ii) composite plies with plain carbon woven (W-FMLs). Samples were tested under dynamic loading (Charpy impact) and quasi-static loading (three-point flexure). The experimental results showed that FMLs with 0.3 wt% GnPs logged the best impact performance; the impact strength of W-FMLs and U-FMLs are respectively 18.2% and 25.2% higher than FMLs without GnPs. FMLs with 0.5 wt% GnPs recorded the highest enhancement in flexural strength, fracture strain and flexural modulus recording increments 23.1%, 19.3% and 48% for the W-FMLs, and 60.3%, 34.5% and 61.4% for the U-FMLs, respectively. Also, an in-depth microscopic analysis was conducted to understand the reinforcing mechanism of GnPs into FMLs. Moreover, a numerical model of a three-point flexural test was developed to show the ability of numerical tools to predict material behaviour at optimized costs. Johnson–Cook and Hashin damage models were used respectively for aluminium alloy and carbon fibre epoxy/GnP composite to accurately predict their deformation and damage modes.
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