COMPOSITE COMPONENT WITH MEANS TO VISUALLY DETECT BARELY VISIBLE IMPACT DAMAGE

摘要

A method of manufacturing a monolithic fibre-reinforced polymer composite component 228 is provided. The method comprises providing a mould 206 comprising a main cavity 208 and at least one additional cavity 210 that extends from the main cavity 208; introducing a polymer matrix material 222 containing chopped fibre reinforcement into the mould 206 to fill the main cavity 208 and the at least one additional cavity 210 to form a monolithic fibre-reinforced polymer composite component 228 with a main portion 230 formed in the main cavity 208 and at least one raised feature 232 formed in the additional cavity 210 and extending from a surface plane of said main portion 230. The at least one raised feature 232 is arranged to incur visually perceptible damage when the component 228 is subject to an impact with an energy above a predetermined impact energy threshold and to resist an impact with an energy below the predetermined impact energy threshold.