Tensile and Bending Characteristics of Hybrid Basalt Fabric–Aluminium Laminates Reinforced with MW-CNT Fillers

The latest developments in the area of hybrid materials evidenced the advantages of fibre metal laminates (FMLs) over the conventional homogeneous materials in automotive structures. In the current research study, tensile strength and flexural strength of aluminium alloy basalt fabric laminate with and without multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MW-CNT) fillers were compared. The proposed laminate sheets were fabricated using the conventional hand layup method, and the test samples were pierced from the fabricated laminates according to ASTM standards. Subsequently, uni-axial tensile test and three-point bending test were performed on the Universal Testing Machine. The results revealed that the tensile and flexural properties of the proposed FMLs were enhanced considerably after the incorporation of MW-CNT nanofillers into the epoxy matrix. These types of newly designed FML could be used as body components in automotive applications.