Can hybridization of flax-polymer composites with metallic alloys enable their adoption in structural engineering applications?

This paper presents an experimental study on the mechanical characterization of novel lightweight and environmentally-sustainable Fibre-Metal-Laminates (FMLs) incorporating natural fibres in the form of flax. The static tensile, compression and flexural properties of the flax-reinforced aluminum laminates were determined. The mechanical responses of FML composites reinforced by flax alone or in combination with glass fibres were significantly higher than the properties measured for the flax fibre/polymer laminates. The Young's moduli of FMLs incorporating flax fibre-reinforced laminates were comparable to those of FMLs composites incorporating glass fibre reinforcements. However, the ultimate tensile strength of the FML composites decreased with the progressive increase in the volume fraction of flax fibres. When the specific yield strength and specific moduli were considered, there was no variation between flax- and glass-reinforced FMLs. The notch sensitivity of the FML composites was also investigated under the tensile loading condition and it was found that flaxreinforced FMLs were relatively less notch sensitive in comparison to their glass-reinforced counterparts. Compression-loaded FML composites revealed similar mechanical response trends to those determined under the tensile loading condition. The flexural response of FMLs was found to be independent of the fibre type. The improvement in the mechanical properties of flax-polymer laminates following their hybridization with aluminum demonstrates the potential for utilizing natural fibres in structural engineering applications