Investigating the Influence of Nano-Silica on Low-Velocity Impact Behavior of Aluminium-Glass Fiber Sandwich Laminate

Fiber Metal Laminates (FML) are an emerging class of composites possessing exceptional properties and numerous applications. This study investigates the effect of Nano-Silica in E-Glass-Aluminium FML under low-velocity impact testing. The Nano-Silica is dispersed in the epoxy resin at varying concentrations as 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 weight % of the epoxy resin. Low-velocity impact tests are conducted for the Nano-Silica FML at 20 J and 30 J impact energy in a drop mass impact testing machine. All the parameters were compared between the pristine FML and Nano-Silica FML (NFML). At 20 J, the 1wt.% FML shows high impact resistance. For 30 J, 3wt.% FML offers the highest energy absorption, among all tested specimens. On comparing the different weight percentages of Nano-Silica, 1wt.% shows the highest elastic storage modulus compared to pristine FML. The glass transition temperature (Tg) from Dynamic Mechanical Analysis further confirms that 1wt.% is more effective in load bearing than other weight percentages. The cole–cole technique reveals a semi-circle curve between storage and loss modulus, which represents homogeneous samples.