TY - JOUR A1 - Léonard, Fabien A1 - Stein, J. A1 - Soutis, C. A1 - Withers, P. J. T1 - The quantification of impact damage distribution in composite laminates by analysis of X-ray computed tomograms N2 - One of the great strengths of X-ray computed tomography over conventional inspection methods (ultrasound, thermography, radiography) is that it can image damage in 3D. However for curved ordeformed composite panels it can be difficult to automatically ascribe the damage to specific plies or inter-ply interfaces. An X-ray computed tomography (CT) data processing methodology is developed to extract the through-thickness distribution of damage in curved or deformed composite panels. The method is applied to [(0°/90°)2]s carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) panels subjected low velocity impact damage (5 J up to 20 J) providing 3D ply-by-ply damage visualisation and analysis. Our distance transform approach allows slices to be taken that approximately follow the composite curvature allowing the impact damage to be separated, visualised and quantified in 3D on a ply-by-ply basis. In this way the interply delaminations have been mapped, showing characteristic peanut shaped delaminations with the major axis oriented with the fibres in the ply below the interface. This registry to the profile of the panel constitutes a significant improvement in our ability to characterise impact damage in composite laminates and extract relevant measurements from X-ray CT datasets. KW - Delamination KW - Impact behaviour KW - Non-destructive testing KW - X-ray computed tomography KW - Distance transform PY - 2017 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0266353817307157?via%3Dihub U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compscitech.2017.08.034 SN - 0266-3538 SN - 1879-1050 VL - 152 SP - 139 EP - 148 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-42556 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -