Dynamic wetting performance and resin-flow behavior of two-level selective laser-etched metal surface in resin transfer moulding process of fiber-metal laminates

ABSTRACT

In selective laser etching for the interfacial strengthening of Fiber Metal Laminates (FMLs), the wettability of customized structured features significantly affects their overall mechanical properties. For two-level features, their complicated geometry makes the evaluation of wettability difficult, which introduces challenges to feature design. In this study, a sandwich FMLs comprising an AA2024-O metal skin and a plain-woven carbon-fiber fabric core is investigated. Three types of two-level feature interfaces are designed and introduced into the FMLs structure. To understand the effect of two-level features on the resin flow and dynamic wetting progress in resin transfer molding, two-phase flow Computational Fluid Dynamics numerical models coupled with porous media and level-set numerical methods are built. The feasibility of the numerical simulation in the qualitative analysis was verified by comparing the results with those of the testing porosity values from X-ray scanning. In addition, the mechanisms of pore formation and transportation are revealed. These results indicate that the deeper groove structure in the etched features plays an important role in discharging residual air and determining the transformation of pores to reduce porosity. The permeability orientations of the porous media and surface structure both have significant impacts on the flow behavior and formation of pores.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Fiber metal laminates
• selective laser etching
• resin transfer moulding
• dynamic wetting
• two-phase flow

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 52375354 and 52375352) and Shanghai Outstanding Academic Leaders Plan (21XD1422000). Besides, this work is also greatly supported by Dr. Hailang Wan.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author statement

Meile Liang: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Formal Analysis, Methodology, Validation, Writing-Original Draft, Software;

Wen Zhang: Resources, Software, Visualization, Writing-Original Draft;

Xincun Zhuang: (Corresponding Author): Funding Acquisition, Supervision, Visualization, Writing-Review & Editing;

Zhen Zhao (Corresponding Author): Funding Acquisition, Supervision, Writing – Review & Editing, Project Administration;

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [52375352]; Shanghai Outstanding Academic Leaders Plan [21XD1422000]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [52375354].