Effect of Different Environmental Conditions on Impact Properties of FMLs Hybridized with Nanoclay

In this paper, the effect of different environmental conditions on the impact properties of fiber metal laminates hybridized with nanoclay is studied. For this purpose, the fiber metal laminates were first laminated by aluminum alloy sheets, glass fiber, pure epoxy resin and modified resin with nanoclay using hand lay-up process. The influence of different types of environmental conditions including cryogenic aging (at temperature of –196 °C in LN2), high-temperature aging (at temperature of 130 °C in dry air), and hygrothermal aging (at temperature of 90 °C in distilled water) on the impact properties of the specimens made with pure epoxy resin and modified resin was investigated using response surface method in various levels. A suitable model was developed to predict the effect of aging type and nanoparticle content on the impact strength of specimens. The results obtained suggest that the cryogenic aging has a most effective role reduction of the impact properties of the specimens. While htgrothermal aging has a less effective role in decreasing the impact properties of fiber metal laminates. Additionally, the result of main effects analysis showed that the detrimental role of different types of aging in reducing the impact properties is more effective than the positive role of nanoparticles in improving the impact properties of fiber metal laminates.