Mechanical and impact behaviour of titanium-based fiber metal laminates reinforced with kevlar and jute fibers under various stacking configurations
V. Subramanian, K. Logesh, Renjin J. Bright, P. Hariharasakthisudhan
Abstract
The mechanical behaviour of Titanium-based Fiber Metal Laminates (FMLs) reinforced with Kevlar, Jute and the novel woven (Kevlar+Jute) fiber mat were evaluated through tensile, flexural, Charpy impact and drop-weight tests. The FMLs were fabricated with various stacking configurations (2/1, 3/2, 4/3, and 5/4) to examine their influence on mechanical properties. Kevlar-reinforced laminates consistently demonstrated superior tensile and flexural strengths, with the highest tensile strength of 772 MPa observed in the 3/2 configuration, attributed to Kevlar's excellent load-bearing capacity. Jute-reinforced laminates exhibited lower performance due to poor bonding and early delamination, while the FMLs reinforced with woven (Kevlar+Jute) fiber mat achieved a balance between mechanical strength and cost-effectiveness by attaining a tensile strength of 718 MPa in the 3/2 configuration. Impact energy absorption results revealed that Kevlar-reinforced FMLs provided the highest energy absorption under Charpy tests, reaching 13.5 J in the 3/2 configuration. The 4/3 configuration exhibited superior resistance under drop-weight impacts, absorbing 104.7 J of energy. Failure analysis using SEM revealed key mechanisms such as fiber debonding, delamination, and fiber pull-out, with increased severity observed in laminates with a higher number of fiber-epoxy layers, especially in the 5/4 configuration. This study highlights the potential of Kevlar-Jute hybrid fiber-reinforced FMLs for applications requiring high mechanical performance and impact resistance. Future research should explore advanced surface treatments and the environmental durability of these laminates for aerospace and automotive applications.