Stretch Formability Behaviour of Glass Fibre Reinforced Nanoclay on Fiber Metal Laminated Composites

Innovations and research in material processing have brought forward new and improvised materials that are applied in body panels of automobiles, aircraft cabins and railway wagons. These materials are used widely is because of their good mechanical properties and their high strength to weight ratio. In this paper Fibre Metal Laminates (FMLs) were added with organo modified montmorillonite (MMT) commonly known as nanoclay along with epoxy resin. The homogeneous dispersion of nanoclay in epoxy resin is accomplished by a hand stirrer dispersion method in ethanol. The FML material was processed by hand layup method. In this study the aluminium alloy 5052-H32 was used as a skin material and glass fibre (woven roving) used as core material which is bounded by epoxy with 5 wt.% nano clay (closet 30B). The fabricated sandwich material was cut by using water jet machine as per IS standards for testing. The fabricated material subjected to erichsen cupping test and was observed under Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results from SEM image analysis indicated that the FML had fibre pull out and surface cracks were obtained in the skin material. Progressive loading resulted in ductile fracture which is absorbed in the specimen. Fibres came across brittle failure and the skin through ductile fracture. Non-uniform distribution of reinforcement is observed in the material, SEM micrographs revealed fibre cracks which were oriented in line to the direction of crack growth on the skin material. This study shows that these fibre metal laminates can be safely applied in automotive field.