Experimental Investigation on Low-Velocity Impact Response and Residual Compressive Bearing Capacity of Composite Stringers

Three types of composite stringers were impacted from two different directions.Relationships between impact energy and visible defect length were found.The critical impact energy corresponding to barely visible impact damage(BVID)of each stringer was determined.Specimens with BVID were then compressed to obtain the residual strength.Experimental results showed that for all types of stringers,the critical energy of in-plane impact is always much lower than out-plane ones.In-plane impact causes much more decrement of stringers'bearing capacity than outplane impact.For both impact directions,I-stringers own the highest defect detectability,T-stringers come second.Meanwhile,I-stringers own the better residual strength ratio than I-stringers and I-stringers.Synthetic considering impact defect detectability and residual bearing capacity after impact,T-stringers own the best compression-afterimpact(CAI)behaviors.

Toughening of BMI Based Graphite Laminates by Ex-situ Concept

High-performance bismaleimdes (BMI) matrix composites reinforced by graphite fibers were prepared and toughened with a thermoplastic component (PAEK) by using the Ex-situ concept. Experimental matrix was designed for overall toughening of the base resin, periodically interleaving thermoplastic films into each plies (Ex-situ concept) and for varying the film compositions. The highest impact damage resistance characterized by compression after impact (CAI) was obtained for the laminates toughened on the Ex-situ concept, especially, when two-component cast films of a special ration of PAEK/BMI 60∶40 were interleaved though the thermoplastic concentration for the overall toughening, interleaving the pure thermoplastic films and the two-component films was comparable. There were two peaks found in the DSC trace of the laminates toughened implying a phase separation process occurred. The glass transition temperature of the laminates toughened was slightly reduced due to the low-temperature PAEK. Morphological study revealed a typical granular structure just in the interplay region as a result of spinodal decomposition and coarsening process. This was in agreement of the result of DSC investigation.

Progressive damage behaviors of woven composite laminates subjected to LVI, TAI and CAI

This paper seeks to deal with progressive damage behaviors of woven composite laminates subjected to low-velocity impact(LVI),tension-after-impact(TAI)and compression-afterimpact(CAI).The LVI,TAI and CAI tests were conducted on woven carbon fibre lamina3238 A/CF3052 and woven glass fibre lamina 3238 A/EW250 F,and the time-dependent LVI contact force and deflection curves,static TAI and CAI load versus displacement curves were determined and discussed.A modified progressive damage model was presented for explicit dynamic LVI and implicit static TAI and CAI analysis by using basic material properties and geometrical dimensions,and progressive damage LVI,TAI and CAI behaviors of woven composite laminates were simulated,demonstrating a good correlation between simulations and experiments.