Modeling and experimental study on the mechanical behavior of glass/basalt fiber metal laminates after thermal cycling

In the present study, the effect of thermal cycling and stacking sequence on the tensile behavior of fiber metal laminate (FML) composites containing glass and basalt fibers was investigated. To fabricate the FML samples, fibers reinforced epoxy composite were sandwiched between two layers of 2024-T3 aluminum alloy sheet. 55 thermal cycles were implemented at a temperature range of 25-115 degrees C for 6 min. The tensile tests were carried out after the thermal cycling procedure, and the results were compared with non-thermal cycling specimens. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was employed for the characterization of the damage mechanisms. The FMLs containing four basalt fibers' layers showed higher values of tensile strength, modulus, and energy absorption. On the other hand, the lowest strength and fracture energy were found in the asymmetrically stacked sample containing basalt and glass fibers, due to weak adhesion between composite components (basalt and glass fibers). The lowest tensile modulus was found in the sample containing glass fibers that was due to the low modulus of the glass fibers compared to basalt fibers. In the case of the samples exposed to thermal cycling, the highest and the lowest thermal stabilities were observed in basalt fibers samples and asymmetrically stacked samples, respectively. In accordance with the experimental results, a non-linear damage model using the Weibull function and tensile modulus was employed to predict the stress-strain relationship. The simulated strain-strain curves presented an appropriate agreement with the experimental results.