Influence of oblique low velocity impact on damage behavior of 2D and 3D woven composites: Experimental and numerical methods

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine whether 3D woven composites exhibit better mechanical performance in comparison with 2D ones under oblique low velocity impact. For this purpose several glass/unsaturated polyester composite specimens were tested using drop-weight impact test machine in different angles including 0°, 10°, 20°, 30° and 40°. In addition, the finite element package ABAQUS was used to simulate oblique impact event. The impact parameters such as contact force, contact duration, absorbed energy, impactor displacement, as well as damage parameters like damage initiation time and force, damage depth and area and damage intensity were examined. The results showed that absorbed energy, damage initiation time and force as well as damage area on the front side of samples increase with rising impact angle, while damage intensity, damage depth and damage area on the back side of the composites decrease. From evaluation of absorbed energy and damage intensity parameters, it was conclusive that the mechanical performance superiority of 3D composites decreases with increasing impact angle.