Mechanical and gamma rays shielding properties of a novel fiber-metal laminate based on a basalt/phthalonitrile composite and an Al-Li alloy

In this study, novel fiber-metal laminates (Al-LiFMLs) were manufactured by the lay-up process using the basalt fibers/phthalonitrile (BFs/PN) composite and the Al-Li alloy. Their mechanical and gamma rays (γ-rays) shielding properties were tested and analyzed then compared to the monolithic alloy. The results indicated that the variation in the number of composite (BFs/PN) plies significantly affected the tensile and shielding properties. The mechanical properties of the Al-LiFMLs showed improvements over the properties of both the individual neat Al-Li alloys and BFs/PN composite materials. For instance, when the number of composite layers varied from 1 to 8, the ultimate tensile strength of the Al-LiFMLs increased from 216 to 483 MPa. It was found that the failure strain displayed a more ductile behavior up to about 20% for all the developed Al-LiFMLs influenced by the ductile fracture mode of the Al-Li alloy. These enhancements were due to the good combination of the composite’s high strength and the metal’s superior ductility as well as the excellent adhesion achieved between the Al-LiFMLs constituents. Moreover, the Al-LiFMLs also revealed an effective gamma rays shielding with screening ratios ranging from 25 to 43% depending on the number of composite plies.