Impact resistant basalt fiber-reinforced aluminum laminate with Janus helical structures inspired by lobster and mantis shrimp

Fiber metal laminate (FML) is an extremely strong and light material that is widely applied in the structural components of aircraft for weight reduction and improving mechanical properties. However, the effective integration of excellent structural failure tolerance property and superior stress dissipation capacity into one FML material remains a huge challenge. Herein, inspired by the non-linear helical structure of lobster and the linear helical structure of mantis shrimp, a novel bioinspired FML with Janus helical structure was designed and manufactured through the method of hot press forming. Afterwards, low velocity impact tests were carried out to evaluate the impact resistant property. Remarkably, the peak impact force of the bioinspired Janus FML (BJFML) at the impact energy of 40 J was 8216.36 N, which increased by 10.22% compared with the 7454.52 N of traditional cross-ply FML (CPFML). Moreover, the dent depth of the BJFML (5.95 mm) decreased by 28.23% compared with that of CPFML (8.29 mm). Finally, the finite element simulation was conducted systematically. In fact, the non-linear helical arrangement greatly hindered crack propagation and the periodic linear structure improved its load homogenizing ability for impact forces, thus improving structural failure tolerance, strengthening stress dissipation, and synergistically enhancing the impact resistance.