Title: Low velocity impact fatigue studies on hybrid composite laminates with varied material and test parameters – effect of impact energy and fibre volume fraction

Authors: K. Mohamed Kaleemulla, B. Siddeswarappa

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University B.D.T. College of Engineering, Davangere 577004, India. ' Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, University B.D.T. College of Engineering, Davangere 577004, India

Abstract: This article is devoted to study the effects of fibre volume fraction and impact energy on the impact damage tolerance of composite laminates subjected to low velocity impacts at constant strike velocities. Repeated drop tests were conducted using a drop weight impact tester. Delamination area was used as parameter for quantifying damage while the number of drops (impacts) to failure used to assess the damage tolerance limits. The delamination area was found to increase and then saturate after a certain number of drops. Impact fatigue studies showed the existence of a critical incident energy around which design of composite structures can be based. One of the interesting observations made was that for any given incident energy, the delamination area was found to be minimum at a certain fibre volume fraction of the laminate.

Keywords: repeated drop tests; impact damage; woven composites; impact energy; glass fabric; epoxy resin; textile satin fabric; fibre volume fraction; damage tolerance; composite laminates; low velocity impact; fatigue; delamination.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSTRUCTE.2011.038065

International Journal of Structural Engineering, 2011 Vol.2 No.1, pp.1 - 12

Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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