Stacking sequence design of fiber-metal laminate for maximum strength

FML (Fiber-Metal Laminate) is anew material combining thin metal laminate w ith adhesive fiber prepreg. It has nearly all the advantages of metallic an d composite materials, including good plasticity, impact resistance, proces sibility, light weight and excellent fatigue properties. However, in most F ML the fiber prepreg is staked in only one direction, although FML can be d esigned with a varying stacking sequence angle of fiber prepreg. No work ha s been published on the optimum design of FML. This paper uses genetic algo rithms to study the optimal design of FML under various loading conditions. To analyze FML the finite element method is used based on shear deformatio n theory. The Tsai-Hill failure criterion and the Miser yield criterion are used as the objective functions of the fiber prepreg and the metal laminat e, and the ply orientation angles are the design variables. In the genetic algorithm, tournament selection and the uniform crossover method are employ ed. The elitist model is also used for an effective evolution strategy, and the creeping random search method is adopted so as to approach the solutio n with high accuracy. Optimization results are given for various loading co nditions and are compared with CFRP (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic). The results show that FML is better than CFRP in most loading conditions. In pa rticular, FML shows good mechanical performance in point and uniform loadin g conditions and is more stable to unexpected loading.