Laminated composite structures are being used in many applications, including aerospace, automobiles, and civil engineering applications, due to their high stiffness to weight ratio. However, composite structures suffer from low ductility and sufficient flexibility to resist against dynamic, particularly impact loadings. Recently, a new generation of laminated composite structures has been developed in which some layers have been filled fully or partially with magnetorheological (MR) fluids; hereafter we call them MR-laminated structures. The present article investigates the effects of MR fluid layers on vibration characteristics and specifically on impact loadings of the laminated composite beams. Experimental works have been conducted to study the dynamic performance of the MR-laminated beams.
Part of the book: Emerging Trends in Mechatronics