Impact and compression after impact characteristics of plain weave fabric composites: effect of plate thickness

Abstract

Impact and compression after impact characteristics of a typical plain weave fabric E-glass/epoxy composite have been studied for plates with different thicknesses and the same incident impact energy. Impact studies have been carried out on an instrumented drop weight impact test apparatus. Post-impact compressive strength has been obtained using NASA 1142 test xture. Compressive strength of an unnotched specimen has been obtained using Lockheed test xture with modi ed specimen geometry. Power ts for peak contact force and maximum plate displacement have been given as a function of plate thickness. It is observed that the impact damage area has quasilemniscate shape. Further, damage mechanism has been studied during the post-impact compressive testing. The residual compressive strength as a function of a plate thickness has been obtained.

Influence of matrix toughness and ductility on the compression-after-impact behavior of woven-ply thermoplastic- and thermosetting-composites: A comparative study

“…It is reasonable to consider that the size of the delamination zone between plies increases as a function of thickness as it is represented by the delamination pyramid in [43]. A few prior investigations considered a complete lack of load carrying capacity of the plies within the damaged area [56], resulting in a negligible residual strength in the 5-6-7 plies within the pyramidal damage zone after high impact energy (e.g. 17 J).…”

“…Thus, the crimp region plays a significant role in controlling the onset of failure in woven-ply laminates, mostly because of the undulating structure of carbon fabrics (see Fig. 7a), and the presence of matrix-rich areas at the crimps [56,60,61]. Both matrix toughness and ductility contribute to specific failure mechanisms within a fiber network.…”

Compression-after-impact response of woven fiber-reinforced composites

“…Considerable research has been devoted to the experimental analysis of compression-after-impact (CAI) behavior of fiber-reinforced composites (e.g., [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] among many others). The main foci of the experimental investigations have been (1) characterization of damage within the material due to impact and (2) phenomenological correlation of the reduction in the compressive strength to the impact-induced damage.…”

“…Systematic studies of the interactive effects of these damage processes have been relatively scarce. The CAI performance of composites is also significantly affected by the microstructural configuration [9], the mechanical properties of the constituent materials, particularly the resin [11], stacking sequence [12,13] and specimen thickness [2,14,7].…”

Application of structural health monitoring techniques to composite wing panels

“…The laminate's strength's reduction in the presence of the BVID is a function of the impact energy level, laminate thickness, and stacking sequence. 27–42…”