Low-velocity impact damage on glass fibre reinforced aluminium laminates: experiments and finite element analysis

In order to investigate the failure mechanism of glass-fiber reinforced aluminum (GLARE) laminates under impact loading, the anti-low speed impact performance by a dropweight test on GLARE was presented, and the damage response of GLARE laminates in the test was given. The study first analyses the curves of time-contact force, time-deflection, time-absorbed energy, deflection-contact force, and the damage to two aluminum layers of the test specimen. Next, a numerical methodology in ABAQUS is employed to simulate the response in low-velocity impact of GLARE laminates and establish the finite element model. After comparing the time-contact force, time-deflection, time-absorbed energy, and the damage to aluminum layers under different circumstances of impact energy between experimental and simulation results, the reliability of the finite element model method was validated. After comparing the damages to composites and aluminum under different impact energy, no big difference in the damage to the composite layer was found. However, more damage in the aluminum layer when the impact energy is higher was found, proving that the aluminum layers play an important role in the entire anti-impact performance of materials.