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In this paper, the influence of fiber length on the tensile behavior of fiber metal laminate, which is fabricated with unidirectionally arrayed chopped strand plies and aluminum sheets and named as unidirectionally arrayed chopped strand/aluminum laminate, was investigated based on finite element analysis and experiment. The unidirectionally arrayed chopped strand ply is made by introducing slits into carbon fiber reinforced plastic prepreg where continuous fibers are arrayed unidirectionally. The fiber length is one of the most fundamental factors in tailoring the unidirectionally arrayed chopped strand/aluminum laminate to achieve the desired mechanic behaviors for specific applications. With longer fiber length, the mechanical behaviors of the bulk laminate should be more favorable, while the formability would be better with short fiber. Two-dimensional finite element models, with intra-laminar cohesive zone elements inserted into the slits of unidirectionally arrayed chopped strand plies and inter-laminar cohesive zone elements inserted into the all interfaces of unidirectionally arrayed chopped strand/aluminum laminate, respectively, were developed for the analysis of unidirectionally arrayed chopped strand/aluminum laminates with different fiber lengths under tension. Typical numerical results were validated by experimental results, which confirm that the tensile behaviors of the unidirectionally arrayed chopped strand/aluminum laminates with various different fiber lengths can be well predicted by present numerical modeling method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we propose a new fiber metal laminate based on unidirectionally arrayed chopped strand (UACS) reinforced aluminum sheets, referred to as UACS/Al laminate. UACS is made by introducing slits into unidirectional carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) prepreg. Due to the presence of discontinuous fibers, the microstructure of the UACS/Al laminate is much more complicated than the conventional fiber metal laminate, which also results in a failure progression that is more complicated. Tensile failure of the UACS/Al laminate might occur as combination of intra-laminar damage at the slits, inter-laminar damage at the interfaces, in-ply damage of the CFRP, and plastic deformation of the aluminum plies. Fabrication and tensile tests of UACS/Al laminate specimens were performed. A two-dimensional finite element model was developed with intra-laminar cohesive elements inserted into the slits of the UACS plies and with inter-laminar cohesive elements inserted into the interfaces between all laminas in the modelled UACS/Al laminates. A numerical study is conducted to investigate the influence of the shape of the cohesive laws on the FEA predictions. The combined experimental and numerical studies provide a detailed understanding of the failure progression of UACS/Al laminates under tensile load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]