Fiber metal laminate (FML) is one of a class of metallic materials consisting of a laminate of several thin metal layers bonded with layers of
composite material
A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...
. This allows the material to behave much as a simple metal structure, but with considerable specific advantages regarding properties such as
metal fatigue
In materials science, fatigue is the initiation and propagation of cracks in a material due to cyclic loading. Once a fatigue crack has initiated, it grows a small amount with each loading cycle, typically producing striations on some parts o ...
,
impact
Impact may refer to:
* Impact (mechanics), a high force or shock (mechanics) over a short time period
* Impact, Texas, a town in Taylor County, Texas, US
Science and technology
* Impact crater, a meteor crater caused by an impact event
* Impac ...
,
corrosion
Corrosion is a natural process that converts a refined metal into a more chemically stable oxide. It is the gradual deterioration of materials (usually a metal) by chemical or electrochemical reaction with their environment. Corrosion engine ...
resistance,
fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...
resistance, weight savings, and specialized strength properties.
During the past decades, increasing demand in aircraft industry for high-performance, lightweight structures have stimulated a strong trend towards the development of refined models for fiber metal laminates (FMLs). Fiber metal laminates are hybrid composite materials built up from interlacing layers of thin metals and fiber reinforced adhesives. The most well known FMLs are:
* ARALL (aramid reinforced aluminum laminate), based on aramid fibers
* GLARE (glass reinforced aluminum laminate), based on high-strength glass fibers
* CentrAl, which surrounds a GLARE core with thicker layers of aluminum
* CARALL (carbon reinforced aluminum laminate), based on carbon fibers
Taking advantage of the hybrid nature from their two key constituents: metals (mostly aluminum) and fiber-reinforced laminate, these composites offer several advantages such as better damage tolerance to fatigue crack growth and impact damage especially for aircraft applications. Metallic layers and fiber reinforced laminate can be bonded by classical techniques, i.e. mechanically and adhesively. Adhesively bonded FMLs have been shown to be far more fatigue resistant than equivalent mechanically bonded structures.
Being mixtures of monolithic metals and composite materials, FMLs belong to the class of heterogeneous mixtures.
Examples of FMLs include
aramid
Aramid fibers, short for aromatic polyamide, are a class of heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibers. They are used in aerospace and military applications, for ballistic-rated body armor fabric and ballistic composites, in marine cordage, ma ...
fibers,
GLARE, and
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
aluminum infusion (B.Al.i).
References
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External links
Forum for Integrated Diffusion-Chemical-Mechanical Simulation of Advanced Materials
Heterogeneous chemical mixtures