EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF DAMAGE IN FABRIC-REINFORCED COMPOSITES SUBJECTED TO LOW-VELOCITY IMPACTS

摘要

Fabric-reinforced composites (FRCs) have become one of the most important structural materials in various industries due to a unique combination of properties such as excellent stiffness, high strength-to-weight ratio and impact strength, good resistance to fracture and ease to manufacture shapes tailored for specific applications. Hence, they are now broadly used in aerospace and naval structures as well as in automotive, construction and energy industry; there is an increasing use of them in sports products. In service, components and structures, containing composites, can be exposed to different loading conditions including dynamic events, e.g. impacts. Such loading can cause deterioration of structural integrity and load-bearing capacity due to induced damage. Because of their heterogeneity and microstructure, composite laminates usually demonstrate multiple modes of damage and fracture when compared with more traditional, macroscopically homogeneous, structural materials such as metals and alloys. Among damage and fracture modes are fibre breaking, transverse matrix cracking, debonding between fibres and matrix and inter-ply and intra-ply delamination.