High Velocity Impact and Blast Loading of Composite Sandwich Panels with Novel Carbon and Glass Construction

E. Rolfe,P. A. Hooper,C. Kaboglu,R. Quinn,J. P. Dear,H. Arora

doi:10.1007/s40870-018-0163-5

E. Rolfe, P. A. Hooper + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40870-018-0163-5

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Abstract

This research investigates whether the layup order of the carbon-fibre/glass-fibre skins in hybrid composite sandwich panels has an effect on impact response. Composite sandwich panels with carbon-fibre/glass-fibre hybrid skins were subjected to impact at velocities of 75 ± 3 and 90 ± 3 m s−1. Measurements of the sandwich panels were made using high-speed 3D digital image correlation (DIC), and post-impact damage was assessed by sectioning the sandwich panels. It was concluded that the introduction of glass-fibre layers into carbon-fibre laminate skins reduces brittle failure compared to a sandwich panel with carbon-fibre reinforced polymer skins alone. Furthermore, if the impact surface is known, it would be beneficial to select an asymmetrical panel such as Hybrid-(GCFGC) utilising glass-fibre layers in compression and carbon-fibre layers in tension. This hybrid sandwich panel achieves a specific deflection of 0.322 mm kg−1 m2 and specific strain of 0.077% kg−1 m2 under an impact velocity of 75 ± 3 m s−1. However, if the impact surface is not known, selection of a panel with a symmetric yet more dispersed hybridisation would be effective. By distributing the different fibre layers more evenly within the skin, less surface and core damage is achieved. The distributed hybrid investigated in this research, Hybrid-(GCGFGCG), achieved a specific deflection of 0.394 mm kg−1 m2 and specific strain of 0.085% kg−1 m2 under an impact velocity of 75 ± 3 m s−1. Blast loading was performed on a large scale version of Hybrid-(GCFGC) and it exhibited a maximum deflection of 75 mm following a similar deflection profile to those observed for the impact experiments.

Highlights

Composite sandwich panels have many advantageous properties, which make them an attractive choice for many applications within the aerospace, naval and wind turbine sectors
The panels were subjected to impact at 75 ± 3 and 90 ± 3 m s−1 to assess their performance under the two velocities
These image series show that the glass-fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) and Hybrid-(GCGFGCG) panels experience the greatest deflection at this impact velocity, this is a result of the reduced panel stiffness as shown in the ABCD matrices

Summary

Introduction

Composite sandwich panels have many advantageous properties, which make them an attractive choice for many applications within the aerospace, naval and wind turbine sectors. These properties include high strength-to-weight ratio and low radar signature. The ability to tailor composite materials for a particular type of expected loading is a major benefit as composite sandwich structures are often subjected to demanding loads including high strain rate loading and impact loading. Different fibrous materials can be combined to create hybrid composites, which incorporate the advantageous attributes of both materials [2]. The location of different layers in an interlaminar hybrid can be tailored so that the composite is optimised to resist a load from a particular direction

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