Abstract
Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) enhanced with nanofillers have been explored for thermal management in the automotive and aerospace applications; however, their thermal behavior as a function of distance remains inadequately investigated. This study evaluated the thermal barrier efficacy of aluminium–glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) fiber metal laminates modified with titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), and silica (SiO2) nanoparticles at heat source distances of 15, 20, and 30 cm. A full factorial design (four materials × three distances × three replicates; n = 36) was implemented with controlled convective heating using a 1000 W hot-air dryer for 10 s. The transient thermal response was assessed using the temperature increase, heating rate, and cooling rate. The TiO2-modified laminate exhibited the lowest temperature increase at 15 cm (0.70 ± 0.03°C), representing a 63% reduction compared to the unfilled control (p < 0.001; Cohen’s d = 60.34). Conversely, GNP-modified laminates displayed non-monotonic distance-dependent behavior, with temperature increase rising from 2.40°C at 15 cm to 2.90°C at 20 cm, and then decreasing to 1.40°C at 30 cm. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated significant effects of material, distance, and their interaction (p < 0.001), showing a clear coupling between the material composition and heat source proximity. The anomalous graphene response warrants microstructural investigation. TiO2 recorded the most consistent performance across all distances. This work systematically quantifies coupled material–distance interaction effects in nano-modified FMLs, establishing that nanofiller selection and standoff distance must be jointly considered in thermal barrier design.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
