Bi-stable hybrid composite laminates containing metallic strips: An experimental and numerical investigation

Abstract

This study scrutinizes the static characteristics of a new category of bi-stable hybrid composite laminates (BHCLs) that contain multiple metallic strips (aluminum) distributed along the middle layer of a carbon fiber reinforced epoxy laminate. With this new class of BHCLs, the direction of curvature of the laminates does not change during the snap-through between the two stable states, unlike the conventional bi-stable cross-ply laminates. The laminates were modeled using finite element analysis and were experimentally validated. BHCLs with two to five metallic strips were fabricated for this purpose. The effect of the number, width, and thickness of the metallic strips on the static characteristics of the laminate were numerically investigated using ABAQUS. Further, the curvatures, out-of-plane displacement, and static snap-through load of the laminates were determined experimentally. The results showed a strong relationship between the residual curvature and the load-carrying capability of the laminate and the number, width, and thickness of the metallic strips, as well as the laminate geometry. Knowledge of this characteristic will allow designers to tune the parameters for a given application and to achieve the desired performance. Good qualitative and quantitative agreement was observed between the numerical and the experimental results.