This work experimentally explores the post-impact behaviour of thin-ply angle-ply pseudo-ductile carbon fibre laminates subjected to tensile load. Indentation and low-speed impact tests were performed on standard tensile test specimens. Non-destructive tests were used to investigate the damage propagation. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) was adopted to detect the strain distribution during tensile tests. Post-damage pseudo-ductile behaviour was retained in angle-ply hybrid composites subjected to tensile loading conditions.

Soft body impacts are one of the main sources of damage for aircraft during flight due to the high relative velocities. However, a hailstone can also hit a structure at low velocity (e.g. during parking, taxi and terminal flight phases) causing barely visible damages. In this research work, a new approach is proposed for the investigation of low energy ice impacts. A drop tower apparatus was modified to accommodate specifically developed ice impactors. High-speed Digital Image Correlation was employed to measure the targets out-of-plane deformations and in-plane strain fields. Different ice impactors geometries, target materials and energy levels were considered. From results, it has been demonstrated that this methodology is able to capture the effect of ice impacting at low speed on targets.

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