Influences of basalt fiber position and addition on the mechanical and viscoelastic behaviors of steel mesh/flax/basalt fiber metal laminates

Abstract

Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) are structures created by strategically integrating fiber-reinforced composites between thin layers of metal sheets or wire mesh, resulting in enhanced structural strength and performance. This present study on FMLs of stacking layering arrangement (SLA) (woven stainless-steel wire mesh intertwined with woven flax/basalt fiber) is developed using the hand lay-up molding. The properties of the FMLs, including mechanical and dynamic mechanical analysis, are studied. The stacking layering arrangement of the FMLs includes basalt and flax layers. The mechanical strengths (tensile and flexural) of the FMLs are higher when the basalt layers are on the outside positions. The alternative layer of FML peculiarly skin basalt fiber is effective in holding stress due to its high-strength properties, which positively transmit stress to the other layers. A hybrid SLA intertwined composite made of maximum basalt fiber as well as basalt as a skin layer shows high viscoelastic properties such as storage and loss moduli. The BFBWBFB (13.174 GPa) intertwined composite shows the largest improvement in storage modulus value up 30.46% compared to F2BW2BF (10.098 GPa), and is improved by 7.709% compared to the twin basalt skin 2BFWF2B composite. An increase in the tan delta value is observed in the 3FW3F stacking design. This is due to the absence of stiffness and internal energy dissipation in most bio-natural fiber layers. After attaining the T_g level, the damping values decrease for all SLA polymer FMLs, due to the free motion of the polymer chains at higher temperatures.

Graphical abstract