Exploration of novel fiber-metal laminates sandwich structures with cellulosic ramie woven core

Abstract

The ever-growing use of eco-friendly cellulosic fibers in composite materials has triggered the interest in adopting such fibers in fiber-metal laminates. Ramie is one of the cellulosic fibers that show high mechanical strength and stiffness. This work aims to explore the feasibility of encapsulating woven ramie core in fiber-metal laminates. The sandwich laminates and composites were fabricated using the hot molding compression method. Tensile, flexural, Charpy impact and quasi-static indentation tests were carried out to identify the mechanical performance of fiber-metal laminates based on woven ramie core. Meanwhile, the mechanical tests were also performed on the composite laminates and woven ramie fabrics for comparison purposes. Based on the findings obtained, ramie fiber-reinforced metal laminates exhibited eminent absolute and specific mechanical properties compared to their associated ramie fabrics and ramie fiber-based composites. The specific tensile strength of metal laminates is 3.80% and 50.56% higher than that of ramie fabrics and composite laminates. It was also found that the specific flexural and impact strengths of metal laminates are 70.02% and 89.12%, respectively, greater than those of composite laminates. In terms of quasi-static indentation, metal laminates displayed specific energy absorption of 35.25 J/g/cm3, which is 388.23% greater than composite laminates. These findings corroborated the addition of aluminum skin layers provided the laminated structures with superior absolute and specific mechanical properties. Thus they could be an alternative material to be used in transportation sectors to improve energy efficiency and mechanical performance.