Delamination Buckling Response of 3D Fiber-Metal Laminates Subjected to different loading Rates

Abstract

In this paper, the buckling response of magnesium-based 3D fiber metal laminated composites (3D-FML) subject to four different strain-rates (static, 0.01, 0.1 and 1 s-1) is experimentally investigated. The effect of varying initial delamination lengths on the response is also investigated. The buckling capacity, maximum loadcarrying capacity and damage mechanisms are presented and the overall response is discussed for all the cases. As expected, specimens without initial delamination carried a higher load under all the strain-rate values. Moreover, the length of the initial delamination had a negligible effect on the maximum load-carrying capacity. The recorded images of the specimens during tests show that the buckling of the first skin always occurs prior to failure of the core, while for the second skin, buckling occurs almost simultaneously along with the onset of core’s failure.