Abstract
The impact damage resistance of Fibre Metal Laminates (FML) is studied. FML is a new family of laminated materials which consist of thin aluminium layers bonded together by intermediate fibre/epoxy layers. Different glass fibre FML variants are compared with Al 2024-T3, and carbon/PEI composites. The effect of the relative glass/epoxy content in FML is determined. FML shows an equal to 15% better minimum cracking energy at low velocity impact compared to monolithic aluminium, but behaves much better (2-3.5x higher minimum cracking energy) at high velocities. The impact damage resistance of FML increases with an increasing glass/epoxy content. This is partly due to the strain rate sensitivity of the glass fibres. FML are also superior because during impact delamination occurs, and the laminae consequently will be loaded in a more efficient membrane deformation compared to the dominant bending deformation of the monolithic material. Carbon/PEI thermoplastic composites have a poor impact damage resistance