Measuring thermal diffusion in fiber metal laminates

Abstract

The positive features of fiber metal laminates such as Glare lead to innovative applications. Positive features of Glare are e.g. a lower fatigue crack growing rate compared to monolithic Aluminum, better UV- And moisture-resistance compared to pure glass fiber laminates and good bearing strengths in combination with favorable impact and lightening resistance. Although, a lot of studies have been made, the thermal diffusion and temperature distribution at moderate temperatures of Glare have not been investigated in such detail. Therefore, this study investigated the temperature distributions of different Glare laminates during heating to moderate temperatures. The heating was realized by means of a local circular heat source at a horizontally positioned specimen. The temperature distributions at the top and bottom surfaces of the specimen were measured by means of thermo couples and at the top side by means of an infrared camera. The temperatures were evaluated at different positions and plotted as a function of time and after the initial heating phase. The test results showed that both, the thermo couples and the infrared camera measured similar temperatures at the top surface. Furthermore, the effect of the orthotropic material behavior of the prepreg layers was not visible in the in-plane-temperature distributions. The results showed as well, that a higher number of prepreg layers reduce the out-of-plane heat flux and thicker Aluminum layers cause higher temperatures at the bottom surfaces. Furthermore, it was concluded that the distance from the specimen center where the temperature of the top and bottom surfaces become similar are a function of the layup.

Publication
ICAST 2014 - 25th International Conference on Adaptive Structures and Technologies