Penetration impact behaviour of hot-compacted self-reinforced polyamide 6 composite laminates

Abstract

Polyamide 6 based sheets are produced by a typical hot compaction procedure and characterised in terms of compaction quality and penetration low-velocity impact performances. Starting from two commercial clothes, a yellow one fully constituted by PA6 fibres and a hybrid red one containing also 1% of secondary polyurethane fibres, single polymer composite (SPC) plates involving 24, 30 and 36 layers of each fabric were prepared under controlled conditions and studied to define their potential applications. Ultrasonic C-scan results showed a quality of compaction always decreasing with the number of stacked fabric layers (thickness) and, with the same number of cloth layers, lower for red laminates compared to yellow ones, in line with previous morphological observations. Different damage propagation mechanisms occur as highlighted by typical load-deflection curves with hybrid systems showing a more pronounced ductile behaviou and an evident deviation from the penetration energy-thickness linear relationship for red samples is detected.