environmental effects on mechanical properties of glass/epoxy and fiber metal laminates, part ii: isothermal aging

The aim of this study is to investigate effects of isothermal aging on mechanical properties of fiber metal laminates (fmls) and glass/epoxy composites. for this purpose, both materials were fabricated using the wet lay-up manufacturing technique under vacuum pressure. both the glass/epoxy composites and the fml specimens were then subjected to isothermal aging (130°c, dried air) for up to 5 weeks. after the isothermal aging, the specimens’ weight loss, caused by thermo-oxidative conditioning, was evaluated. bending and charpy impact tests were conducted on both the unaged and aged specimens to examine the isothermal condition-ing’s effect on the mechanical properties of studied materials. experimental results revealed that isothermal aging severely affected impact strength in the form of embrittlement and re-duced ductility. however, no significant reduction was found in the flexural stiffness of iso-thermally aged fml and glass/epoxy specimens.