Impact Performance of 3D Interlock Textile Composites

Abstract

Impact tests of 2D and 3D textile composites have been carried out in order to identify the superiority of 3D composites. For 2D composites, the plain woven and the 8-harness satin woven composites of different fiber bundle size have been considered. For 3D composites, orthogonal woven preforms of different density and type of through-thickness fibers have been studied. To assess the damage after the impact loading, specimens were SUbjected to C-scan nondestructive inspection. Compression after impact (CAI) tests were also conducted in order to evaluate residual compressive strength. Under the impact energy of 15J the visible damage was small on the impacted side ofthe 3D woven composites, whereas the same impact energy caused perforation in 2D woven composites. Thus, the impact performance of 3D woven composites is superior to 2D woven materials, although the direct comparison of quantitative characteristics was not successful in this study.