Low Velocity Impact Response of Laminate Rectangular Plates Made of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics

Abstract

The paper aims to present an experimental study on low velocity impact behavior of composite materials reinforced with carbon fibers. The objectives of investigations are to assess the main characteristics of impact response such as the energy absorbed by the laminate plate, the contact force as well as the indentation corresponding to different initial kinetic energies of the projectile. The experimental tests were conducted on rectangular plate specimens with dimensions of 150x100x2.5mm3, cut off from a symmetric laminate made of 8 unidirectional carbon/epoxy vinyl ester laminate that are stacked in a lay-up configuration of [0/-45/45/90]s. The energy that induced the specimen’s complete perforation as well as the energy corresponding to the level of BVID were determined with regard to typical testing conditions, such as the time varying acceleration, displacement as well as the absorbed impact energy. Moreover, for comparison purposes, the analytically results obtained for the case of an elastic impact with a projectile velocity of 1m/s, by making use of a complete model based on Kirchhoff plate theory, is presented. Within the range of elastic impact, the analytical results demonstrated their good agreement with the experimental testing data in terms of the absorbed impact energy, displacements and contact force time histories.