Stacking sequence design of fiber-metal laminate for maximum strength

Abstract

FML (Fiber-Metal Laminate) is anew material combining thin metal laminate with adhesive fiber prepreg. It has nearly all the advantages of metallic and composite materials, including good plasticity, impact resistance, processibility, light weight and excellent fatigue properties. However, in most FML the fiber prepreg is staked in only one direction, although FML can be designed with a varying stacking sequence angle of fiber prepreg. No work has been published on the optimum design of FML. This paper uses genetic algorithms to study the optimal design of FML under various loading conditions. To analyze FML the finite element method is used based on shear deformation theory. The Tsai-Hill failure criterion and the Miser yield criterion are used as the objective functions of the fiber prepreg and the metal laminate, and the ply orientation angles are the design variables. In the genetic algorithm, tournament selection and the uniform crossover method are employed. The elitist model is also used for an effective evolution strategy, and the creeping random search method is adopted so as to approach the solution with high accuracy. Optimization results are given for various loading conditions and are compared with CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic). The results show that FML is better than CFRP in most loading conditions. In particular, FML shows good mechanical performance in point and uniform loading conditions and is more stable to unexpected loading.