INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KANPUR

AE684A : Aircraft Materials and Processes

Academic Year : 2016-17/I
Report : Properties and Application of GLARE

Submitted by: Suyash Harlalka

Roll: 12807747
1. Abstract
Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) are good candidates for advanced aerospace
structural applications due to their high specific mechanical properties
especially fatigue resistance. The most important factor in manufacturing of
these laminates is the adhesive bonding between aluminium and FRP layers. In
this study, history, properties, applications and future aspects of glass-fiber
reinforced aluminium (GLARE) laminates have been discussed in detail. It has
been proved and discussed that why GLARE is a better alternative than
aluminium (or alloys) in various aerospace applications like fuselage parts etc.
in terms of weight reduction, durability and added strength. GLARE laminates
can be tailored to suit a wide variety of applications by varying the fiber/resin
system, the alloy type and thickness, stacking sequence, fiber orientation,
surface pre-treatment technique, etc.

2. Introduction
Traditional fibre/metal laminates (FMLs) are layered materials based on
stacked arrangements of aluminium alloy and a fibre-reinforced epoxy resin.
Presently, systems such as GLARE (glass-fibre/aluminium), ARALL (aramid-
fibre/aluminium) and CALL (carbon-fibre/aluminium) are finding increasing use
in a number of aerospace applications. Initial studies have shown that FMLs
combine the durability and superior machinability associated with metals with
the superior specific properties and excellent fatigue and fracture
characteristics of high-performance composite materials.

Glass laminate aluminium reinforced epoxy (GLARE) is a fiber metal laminate

(FML) composed of several very thin layers of metal (usually aluminium)
interspersed with layers of glass-fiber. Although GLARE is a composite
material, its material properties and fabrication are very similar to bulk
aluminium metal sheets. It has far less in common with composite structures
when it comes to design, manufacture, inspection or maintenance. GLARE
parts are constructed and repaired using mostly conventional metal material
techniques.
3. History
GLARE is a relatively successful FML, patented by Akzo Nobel in 1987, which
has entered commercial application in the Airbus A380. Much of the R & D on
FML was done in the 1970s and 1980s.
The fruition of FML development marks an important step in the long history
of research starting in 1945 at Fokker, where earlier bonding experience at de
Havilland inspired investigation into the improved properties of bonded
aluminium laminates compared to monolithic aluminium. Later, NASA got
interested in reinforcing metal parts with composite materials as part of the
Space Shuttle program led to the introduction of fibers to the bond layers, and
the concept of FMLs was born.
Further research and co-operation of Fokker with Delft University, the Dutch
Aerospace Laboratory NLR, 3M, Alcoa and various other companies and
institutions led to the first FML, the Aramid fiber based ARALL. This proved to
have some cost, manufacturing and application problems (while it had a very
high tensile strength; compression, off-axis loading and cyclic loading proved
problematic), which lead to an improved version with glass-fiber instead of
aramid fibers.
Over the course of the development of the material, which took more than 30
years from start to the major application on the Airbus A380, many other
production and development partners have been involved, including Boeing,
McDonnell Douglas, Bombardier, and the US Air Force. Over the course of
time, companies withdrew from this involvement, sometimes to come back
after a couple of years, like Alcoa who withdrew in 1995 to come back in 2004
and withdrew once again in 2010. These strategic decisions show the dynamic
nature of innovation processes.

4. Fiber-Reinforced Composites
A fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) is a composite building material that
consists of three components:
(i) the fibers as the discontinuous or dispersed phase,
(ii) the matrix as the continuous phase, and
(iii) the fine interphase region, also known as the interface.
This is a type of advanced composite group, which makes use of rice husk, rice
hull, and plastic as ingredients. This technology involves a method of refining,
blending, and compounding natural fibers from cellulosic waste streams to form
a high-strength fiber composite material in a polymer matrix. The designated
waste or base raw materials used in this instance are those of waste
thermoplastics and various categories of cellulosic waste including rice husk
and saw dust.
FRC is high-performance fiber composite achieved and made possible by cross-
linking cellulosic fiber molecules with resins in the FRC material matrix through
a proprietary molecular re-engineering process, yielding a product of
exceptional structural properties.
Through this feat of molecular re-engineering selected physical and structural
properties of wood are successfully cloned and vested in the FRC product, in
addition to other critical attributes to yield performance properties superior to
contemporary wood.
This material, unlike other composites, can be recycled up to 20 times,
allowing scrap FRC to be reused again and again.
The failure mechanisms in FRC materials include delamination, intra-laminar
matrix cracking, longitudinal matrix splitting, fiber/matrix de-bonding, fiber
pull-out, and fiber fracture.

Fig.1 : Configuration of continuous fiber/metal/epoxy hybrid composite

5. Mechanical Behaviour of GLARE

Static properties
The GLARE laminates with unidirectional fibers exhibit strongly directional
properties. The fibers contribute to strength and modulus in the direction
along which they are aligned, while metal layers control the laminate tensile
and compressive properties in the transverse direction. As a result, the tensile
and compressive strength of unidirectional GLARE laminates is substantially
stronger than aluminium alloys in the longitudinal direction.
However, the transverse properties of unidirectional GLARE laminates are
somewhat lower than those of monolithic aluminium alloys. The use of a cross-
plied glass/epoxy layer produces laminates with equal properties in the
longitudinal and transverse directions. Therefore, the tensile and compressive
strength of cross-ply GLARE laminates (GLARE 3, for example) is far superior to
the aluminium alloys in either direction.

Fracture Resistance
The fracture behaviour of GLARE is superior as compared to the 2024-T3
aluminium alloy. In comparison with monolithic aluminium, the use of high
failure stress and high-failure strain glass fibers can effectively prevent fiber
failure from occurring before the aluminium fails. Hence, the fracture
toughness value for GLARE is significantly higher. Evidently, the facture
toughness of GLARE laminates is controlled by various toughening
mechanisms including metal/prepreg layer interfacial de-bonding, stress
redistribution after crack initiation, and the fracture behaviour of metal and
prepreg layers. Generally, it was found that fiber metal laminates with fatigue
cracks have higher fracture toughness than laminates with a saw cut due to the
unbroken fibers in the wake of the crack and the delamination zone around
the crack, which effectively enlarge the strain length of the fibers.

Notched Residual Strength

The notched residual strength is an important design consideration since
geometrical notches cannot normally be avoided in an aircraft. Like most fiber-
reinforced composite materials, GLARE is highly notch sensitive in comparison
with its monolithic aluminium
alloy. However, the advantage of high ultimate strength and high strain to
fracture of glass fibers makes GLARE laminates superior to other fiber metal
laminates such as ARALL in notch strength. The factors that can affect the
notched residual strength of GLARE laminates include the volume fraction and
properties of the constituents, the fiber direction, and the nature of the flaw
present.

Fatigue Behavior
GLARE laminates exhibit crack-growth rates 10 to 100 times slower than their
monolithic
aluminium constituents. GLARE excels in all types of fatigue-critical aircraft
loading situations. The phenomenon known as crack bridging by intact fibers
imposes a significant restraint on crack opening. Furthermore, the fibers in the
cracked area transmit a substantial amount of the load through the cracked
area. As a result, there is a large reduction in the stress-intensity factor.
Impact Behavior
One of the key concerns with traditional composite materials in thin skinned
structures such as fuselages is their relatively high susceptibility to impact
damage. Impact damage on aircraft structures can be caused by low- and high-
velocity sources such as runaway debris, hail, bird strikes, engine debris,
collisions between service cars, and cargo. The excellent impact performance
of GLARE is attributed to a high strain-rate strengthening phenomenon that
occurs in the glass fibers, combined with their relatively high failure strain.

Environmental Durability
Like fibrous polymer composites, the fiber-adhesive layer in GLARE laminates is
susceptible to moisture absorption controlled by temperature and humidity,
though moisture absorption is very limited due to the protective aluminium
layers. Moisture in the glass fiber-adhesive layers of GLARE increases the ease
of delamination between the prepreg and metal layers. The effects are more
pronounced in distilled water or salt solution than in humid air and more
significant at high temperatures. The GLARE laminate exhibits excellent
corrosion resistance since all aluminium sheets used are anodized and coated
with a corrosion-inhibiting primer prior to the bonding process. Through the-
thickness corrosion is prevented by the fiber/epoxy layer, which serves as a
barrier.

6. Application of GLARE

The FML with glass fibers (GLARE), and Kevlar fibers (ARALL) have been
evaluated for potential applications in aircraft structures. These laminates
possess excellent properties of both metals and fibrous composite materials.
This combination results in a new family of hybrid laminates with an ability to
impede and arrest crack growth caused by cyclic loading, with excellent impact
and damage tolerance characteristics and low density. Also, the corrosion
resistance is excellent because the prepreg layers are able to act as moisture
barriers between the various inner aluminium layers, whereas the metal layers
protect the fiber/epoxy layers from picking up moisture. Fiber reinforced metal
laminates, especially GLARE, also have an inherent high burn-through
resistance as well as good damping and insulation properties.
Its major advantages over conventional aluminium are:

Better "damage tolerance" behavior (especially impact and metal fatigue, as

the elastic strain is larger than other metal material it can consume more
impact energy. It is dented easier but has a higher penetration resistance )

Better corrosion resistance

Better fire resistance

Lower specific weight

Recently, GLARE laminate was selected for the upper fuselage skin structures
of Airbus A380, as shown in Figure 2. This is the first structural application of
GLARE laminate in a commercial airline. Each A380 will have about 380 m2 of
GLARE. In addition to being 10% less dense than aluminiuma weight saving
of 794 kg GLARE laminate has proven superior in terms of fatigue, damage,
and fi re resistance. GLARE may also be used in the leading edge of wings and
tails of the A380 due to its outstanding impact performance. This article will
review the mechanical behaviour of several types of GLARE laminates under
various loading conditions.
Fig. 2 : The application of GLARE as the upper fuselage panel for A380.

GLARE has multiple 'secondary' applications. GLARE is also the material used in
the ECOS3 blast-resistant Unit Load Device. This is freight container shown to
completely contain the explosion and fire resulting from a bomb such as that
used over Lockerbie. Other applications include among others the application
in the Learjet 45 and in the past also in cargo floors of the Boeing 737.

7. MANUFACTURING PROCESSES OF GLARE

GLARE laminate can be tailored to suit a variety of applications by varying such
factors as the fiber/resin system, the alloy type and thickness, stacking
sequence, fiber orientation, and the surface pre-treatment technique. The
density of the GLARE laminates depends on the relative thickness of aluminium
sheet and glass fiber/epoxy layers, the number of layers in the laminate, and
the fiber volume fraction. In all cases, the density of GLARE laminate is at least
8% lower than aluminium alloy.
GLARE laminates are manufactured by bonding together unclad metal sheets
with fiber composite prepreg using a press or, preferably, an autoclave. Prior
to bonding lay-up, the metal layer surfaces are treated to improve the
adhesion to the prepreg. Pre-treatment for aluminium sheets involves the
following processes: alkaline degreasing, pickling inchromic-sulfuric acid,
chromic acid anodization, and priming with BR 127, which is a modified epoxy
phonolic primer with corrosion-inhibiting properties. After the lay-up
procedure, the laminate is cured in an autoclave. The adhesive system in which
the fibers are embedded contributes significantly to the performance of the
laminates. It also determines the bond strength between the fiber layers and
metal layers. Several GLARE variants with different laminate lay-up and fiber
orientations have been developed.
 Fig. 3 : The spliced concept for producing a large panel of GLARE
laminates.

8. Conclusion
Due to its outstanding fatigue resistance, high specific-static properties,
excellent impact resistance, good residual and blunt-notch strength, flame
resistance and corrosion properties, and ease of manufacture and repair,
GLARE is a promising candidate material for fuselage skin structures of the new
generation of high-capacity aircraft. GLARE laminates seem poised to play a
much greater role in the primary structure of pressurized transport fuselages.
The R&D activities to date have covered the mechanical properties of GLARE.
However, insufficient information about the mechanical behaviour of GLARE is
available in published literature. In addition, an analytical certification based
on analytical and numerical models validated by experiment needs to be
established. Such a certification would facilitate greater utilization of GLARE in
future aircraft structures.
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3. L.B. Vogeslang and A. Volt, Development of Fibre Metal Laminates for
Advanced Aerospace Materials,
4. S. Krishnakumar, Fiber Metal LaminatesThe Synthesis of Metals and
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