Degradation Behavior of Epoxy Resins in Fibre Metal Laminates Under Thermal Conditions

GLARE (glass fibre/epoxy reinforced aluminum laminate) is a member of the fiber metal laminate (FML) family, and is built up of alternating metal and fiber layers. About 500m2 GLARE is employed in each Airbus A380 because of the superior mechanical properties over the monolithic aluminum alloys, such as weight reduction, improved damage...

The Residual Strength Failure Sequence in Fibre Metal Laminates

The concept of damage tolerance is a key aspect in ensuring and maintaining safety of an airframe structure over its design life. Developments in materials and structural design have both contributed to improvements in the damage tolerance of modern aircraft structures. Indeed, new developments in metal alloys, composite materials, and hybrid...

Knowledge based method for solving complexity in design problems

The process of design aircraft systems is becoming more and more complex, due to an increasing amount of requirements. Moreover, the knowledge on how to solve these complex design problems becomes less readily available, because of a decrease in availability of intellectual resources and reduced knowledge transfer opportunities. Aerospace...

Bearing Strength Characteristics of Standard and Steel Reinforced GLARE

Fibre Metal Laminates (FMLs) are hybrid materials, which consist of thin metal sheets bonded together with alternating unidirectional fibre layers. This material concept has resulted in superior fatigue characteristics with respect to the metallic counterpart. Several static characteristics are however negatively influenced due to the fibre...

Subsurface fatigue crack growth in Glare fibre metal laminates

The investigation of the present thesis is concerned with the fatigue crack growth behaviour of part through the thickness cracks in Glare™ fibre metal laminate (FML) subjected to combined tension and bending. An experimental program was executed which required the development of a novel fatigue specimen, the Milled Open Hole Tension Bending ...

Characterisation of fibre metal laminates under thermomechanical loadings

Fibre metal laminates, such as Arall or Glare, can offer improved properties compared to monolithic materials. Glare for example shows improved fatigue, residual strength, burn-through, impact and corrosion properties with respect to aluminium 2024, together with a considerable weight reduction and competitive costs. A large research program has...

Numerical analysis of failure mechanisms in fibre metal laminates

Numerical assessment of failure mechanisms in fibre metal laminates

In this contribution numerical models are discussed for describing failure mechanisms in fibre metal laminates. Fibre metal laminates form a new class of materials which are considered for a possible application to the fuselage of future aircraft generations. The intensive experimental analyses of these materials are focused on the assessment of...

Residual thermal stresses around bonded fibre metal laminate repair patches on an aircraft fuselage

Finite element procedure for modelling fibre metal laminates