Numerical modeling of the impact response of fiber-metal laminates

This article models the impact response of fiber-metal laminates (FMLs) based on a polypropylene (PP) fiber/ PP matrix composite and two types of aluminum alloy. Here, a finite element analysis is used to model the impact behavior of FMLs at velocities up to 150 m/s. The PP-based composite was modeled as an isotropic material with a specified tensile cut-off stress to allow for the automatic removal of failed elements. The aluminum was modeled as an elasto-plastic material with a specified shear failure strain and a tensile failure cutoff stress. The deformed response of the structures and the resulting failure modes were compared with the experimental data. The variation of the maximum permanent displacement versus normalized impact energy was also predicted and compared with the impact test data and good agreement was observed. Finally, the decay of the kinetic energy of the projectile with time was determined for each of the targets and used to characterize their impact resistance.