Purpose – The aim of this study is to perform a comparative study on sandwich structures with several types of three-dimensional (3D) reticulate cellular structural core designs for their low-energy impact absorption abilities using powder bed additive manufacturing methods. 3D reticulate cellular structures possess promising potentials in various applications with sandwich structure designs. One of the properties critical to the sandwich structures in applications, such as aerospace and automobile components, is the low-energy impact performance. Design/methodology/approach – Sandwich samples of various designs, including re-entrant auxetic, rhombic, hexagonal and octahedral, were designed and fabricated via selective laser sintering (SLS) process using nylon 12 as material. Low-energy drop weight test was performed to evaluate the energy absorption of various designs. Tensile coupons were also produced using the same process to provide baseline material properties. The manufacturing issues such as geometrical accuracy and anisotropy effect as well as their effects on the performance of the structures were discussed. Findings – In general, 3D reticulate cellular structures made by SLS process exhibit significantly different characteristics under low-energy drop weight impact compared to the regular extruded honeycomb sandwich panels. A hexagonal sandwich panel exhibits the largest compliance with the smallest energy absorption ability, and an octahedral sandwich panel exhibits high stiffness as well as good impact protection ability. Through a proper geometrical design, the re-entrant auxetic sandwich panels could achieve a combination of high energy absorption and low response force, making it especially attractive for low-impact protection applications. Originality/value – There has been little work on the comparative study of the energy absorption of various 3D reticulate cellular structures to date. This work demonstrates the potential of 3D reticulate cellular structures as sandwich cores for different purposes. This work also demonstrates the possibility of controlling the performance of this type of sandwich structures via geometrical and process design of the cellular cores with powder bed additive manufacturing systems.

In this paper, we embed fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors in graphite fiber-epoxy woven composite laminates to detect evolving damage modes. The peak wavelengths of the FBG sensors are interrogated at 625 and 295 kHz, while the laminates are subjected to 11.0 J low-velocity impact events. It is demonstrated that 295 kHz interrogation is sufficient for accurately collecting the dynamic response of the sensors. The FBG sensors embedded at the laminate midplanes successfully reconstructed the global laminate response to impact. The maximum and full width at half-maximum (FWHM) for the relative strain histories demonstrated the same trends as the maximum and FWHM of the contact force histories measured from the impactor. More noise was present in the strain histories obtained from the FBG sensors than the contact force histories, as the embedded FBGs were sensitive to local perturbations in the stress state. The FBG sensors embedded below the midplane of the laminate were closer to the damage regions and measured complex strain histories. In one case, this strain history revealed the presence of delamination.

We compare the performance of four different damage measures based on the full spectral response of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors: spectral bandwidth, number of peaks, cross-correlation coefficient and fractal dimension. These damage measures provide a rapid indication of the extent of damage near the FBG sensor. Each damage measure is applied to data simulating the response of a FBG to a pure strain gradient and experimental data from FBG sensors embedded in a laminate subjected to multiple impacts. The cross-correlation coefficient and number of peaks did not perform well for the experimental data. The spectral bandwidth presented a low sensitivity to noise and a high sensitivity to rapidly increasing strain fields, whereas the fractal dimension was more sensitive to more gradually changing strain fields. Ultimately, the best strategy would be to fuse the results of the spectral bandwidth and fractal dimension damage measures to incorporate the strengths of each approach. At the same time, this study highlighted the challenges in using such spectral data from FBG sensors embedded in structural materials, primarily due to the variability in response between sensors exposed to the same damage states.

This paper presents experimental measurements of the response of woven composite laminates to multiple low-velocity impacts. Damage initiation and progression occur at multiple physical and temporal scales in heterogeneous materials, including fiber breakage, matrix cracking, delamination and matrix relaxation. The sensor networks/interrogators were therefore chosen specifically to provide insight into the order and progression of different failure modes. Measurements of the contact force between the impactor and composite are measured throughout impact. Additionally, the dissipated energy per impact event is also calculated from the impactor velocity. Surface mounted and embedded fiber Bragg grating sensors are used for the measurement of the laminate response. Peak wavelength measurements are performed during impact at 1 kHz, while full-spectral scanning is performed at 5 Hz during relaxation period of the laminate immediately after impact and quasi-statically to measure post-impact residual strain states within the laminate. The results highlight the depth of information embedded within the FBG full-spectral data sensors, as well as the added insight to be gained from combined global-local measurements.

Graphite fiber/epoxy, two-dimensional woven composite laminates were fabricated with various densities of embedded optical fibers at the midplane. The specimens were subjected to multiple low-velocity impacts until failure, as the energy dissipated by the laminate and the maximum contact force were measured for each impact event. Cumulative probability distributions were calculated for each embedded optical fiber density, from which probability distribution functions in terms of embedded optical fiber density were extrapolated. At low fiber densities, the total energy dissipated by the specimen and the total maximum contact force over the lifetime of the specimen decreased rapidly with increasing optical fiber density. After a threshold embedded optical fiber density, the optical fibers dominated the failure mode of the laminate and the laminate lifetime, and the overall stiffness was not affected by the embedded optical fiber density. The obtained probability distribution functions could be applied for future optimization of embedded sensor placement for smart composite structures.