Impact performance of glass cloth/epoxy composite tubes with different surface treatment

Abstract

The primary objective of this work is to identify the effects of testing speed and the fiber surface treatment on the crushing performances of glass cloth/epoxy composite tubes. Two kinds of composite tube were investigated; the first tubes were reinforced with glass cloth treated with aminosilane coupling agent, and the others were reinforced with glass cloth treated with acrylsilane coupling agent. Composite tubes were axial compression tested at an impact speed of 8.5 m/s. The impact test results were compared with the results of tubes tested at a quasi-static crushing speed of 1 mm/min. Independent of the testing speed the aminosilane-treated tubes displayed higher energy absorption capability than the acrylsilane-treated tubes. The progressive crushing mode and the energy absorption capability of aminosilane-treated tubes was not influenced by the testing speed. By changing the testing speed from quasi-static to impact, the energy absorption capability of acrylsilane-treated tubes increased by 15%. T...