Review Low velocity impact response of fibre-metal laminates – A review Gin Boay Chai ⇑ , Periyasamy Manikandan School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Division of Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore article info Article history: Available online 13 August 2013 Keywords: Low velocity impact Quasi-static Fibre-metal laminates Dynamic response abstract This contribution hopes to give a comprehensive review of past and current research work published on the dynamic response of fibre-metal laminates subjected to low velocity impact. The historical develop- ment of fibre-metal laminates is first reviewed in details, and notable researchers and their contributions are chronologically tabulated and reviewed. Included are also reviews on published experimental, numerical and analytical work on the low velocity impact of fibre-metal laminates. Detailed discussions on the two main groups of parameters namely geometry and material based parameters that influenced the structural response of fibre metal laminates to low-velocity impact. The review concludes with detailed discussions on the future works needed for fibre-metal laminates subjected to low velocity impact loads. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 363 2. Experimental studies of low velocity impact on fibre-metal laminates .......................................................... 365 2.1. Effect of pre-stress .............................................................................................. 366 2.2. Effect of metal constituents ....................................................................................... 367 2.3. Effect of stacking sequence ........................................................................................ 367 2.4. Effects of Metal Volume Fraction (MVF) ............................................................................. 367 2.5. Scaling effects .................................................................................................. 367 2.6. Effect of post stretching .......................................................................................... 368 3. Simulation of low velocity impact on FMLs ................................................................................ 368 3.1. Details of FE formulations to model FML............................................................................. 370 3.2. Role of commercial FE software on impact behavior ................................................................... 370 3.3. Importance of cohesive elements in FML modeling .................................................................... 370 3.4. Numerical modeling of FML with FE software ........................................................................ 372 4. Analytical modeling of low velocity impact on FMLs ........................................................................ 374 4.1. Morphology of impact dynamics ................................................................................... 374 4.2. Solution methods ............................................................................................... 375 4.3. Analytical developments in FML ................................................................................... 375 5. Concluding remarks ................................................................................................... 378 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... 379 References .......................................................................................................... 379 1. Introduction Fibre Metal Laminate (FML) is a family of hybrid composite structure formed from the combination of metal layers sandwich- ing a fibre-reinforced plastic layer. The metal currently being used is either aluminium, magnesium or titanium, and the fibre-rein- forced layer is either glass-reinforced, carbon-reinforced or kev- lar-reinforced composite. In 1950, Fokker Aerostructures of Netherlands found that such bonded laminated structures success- fully prevented the rapid fatigue crack growth than the monolithic materials. On the eve of Second World War, the research was ceased for a certain period of time, around 1970s first physical test was carried out with the fibre-reinforced bonded metal laminates. Later, an optimized FML sheet was developed by the Delft 0263-8223/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2013.08.003 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +65 67905756; fax: +65 67924062. E-mail address: mgbchai@ntu.edu.sg (G.B. Chai). Composite Structures 107 (2014) 363–381 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Composite Structures journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct