Experimental Study on Drop-Weight Impact Response of Basalt Fiber Aluminum Laminates (BFMLs)

The basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (epoxy resin), which has even better mechanical properties than glass fiber-reinforced polymer, is a good choice for making FML (fiber-metal laminate) composite. Herein, drop-weight impact tests of basalt fiber-based FMLs (called BFMLs) were conducted in the INSTON 9520HV testing machine to investigate the low-velocity impact properties of BFMLs. The specimens were of two diameters. And the impactors had two sizes of nose, dropping from different heights. The load-deflection behavior of aluminum sheet, BFRP (basalt fiber-reinforced polymer) panel, and BFML plate and their energy dissipation patterns during impact perforation were obtained. The test results showed that aluminum alloy sheet and BFMLs had no strain rate effect, while BFRP did. It was also concluded that the behavior of the thick BFML plate was clearly affected by debonding between aluminum sheet and BFRP panel, while the behavior of the thin BFML plate was controlled by membrane force. In failure analysis, it was found that the deformation and breakage of BFRP are the main contributions to energy absorption of BFMLs which counts for more than 75%. The energy absorbed by the aluminum sheet through plastic deformation and petaling is about 20%, while the energy absorbed in debonding can be ignored. In addition, with the help of ABAQUS simulation, it was found that decreasing the value of MVF (metal volume fraction) can increase the specific energy absorption of BFMLs, but the ductility of BFMLs may decrease.