Title: Penetration impact behaviour of hot-compacted self-reinforced polyamide 6 composite laminates

Authors: Ilaria Papa; Paolo Vecchione; Valentina Lopresto; Antonio Langella; Pietro Russo; Francesca Cimino

Addresses: Department of Chemical, Materials Engineering and Industrial Production, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, 80125, Italy ' Department of Chemical, Materials Engineering and Industrial Production, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, 80125, Italy ' Department of Chemical, Materials Engineering and Industrial Production, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, 80125, Italy ' Department of Chemical, Materials Engineering and Industrial Production, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, 80125, Italy ' Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, National Research Council, Pozzuoli (Naples), 80078, Italy ' Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials, National Research Council, Pozzuoli (Naples), 80078, Italy

Abstract: Polyamide 6 based sheets are produced by a typical hot compaction procedure and characterised in terms of compaction quality and penetration low-velocity impact performances. Starting from two commercial clothes, a yellow one fully constituted by PA6 fibres and a hybrid red one containing also 1% of secondary polyurethane fibres, single polymer composite (SPC) plates involving 24, 30 and 36 layers of each fabric were prepared under controlled conditions and studied to define their potential applications. Ultrasonic C-scan results showed a quality of compaction always decreasing with the number of stacked fabric layers (thickness) and, with the same number of cloth layers, lower for red laminates compared to yellow ones, in line with previous morphological observations. Different damage propagation mechanisms occur as highlighted by typical load-deflection curves with hybrid systems showing a more pronounced ductile behaviou and an evident deviation from the penetration energy-thickness linear relationship for red samples is detected.

Keywords: self-reinforced composites; hot-compaction; low-velocity impact tests; laminated structures; ultrasonic C-scan.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAUTOC.2017.091412

International Journal of Automotive Composites, 2017 Vol.3 No.2/3/4, pp.210 - 225

Received: 09 Feb 2017
Accepted: 07 Aug 2017
Published online: 30 Apr 2018 *

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