Impact on Sandwich Structures with Fiber/Metal Laminates Face Sheets

Sandwich structures consist of two thin and stiff face sheets and a thick and lightweight core. Face sheets typically made from metal sheets or fibrous composite layers, both have some advantages and disadvantages. In this paper, a new family of sandwich structures with fiber metal laminate (FML) faces is investigated. FMLs have benefits over both metal and fiber reinforced composites. To investigate the low velocity impact properties of sandwich plates with FML faces and compare with similar sandwich plates with metal and fibrous composite faces, three groups of specimens were fabricated and tested. From the experimental results, FML face sheets have good resistance against transverse local loads and reduce stress concentration and local deformations of face sheet and core under the impactor tip.