- Purpose:
The present work deals with the experimental investigation concerning the energy dissipation capacity of different kinds of reinforcement fibres in monolithic and hybrid layups under high velocity impact loads. The investigated kinds of fibres are carbon, glass and basalt. Design/methodology/approach:
The test panels have been impregnated with thermoset resin. Curing was done byPurpose:
The present work deals with the experimental investigation concerning the energy dissipation capacity of different kinds of reinforcement fibres in monolithic and hybrid layups under high velocity impact loads. The investigated kinds of fibres are carbon, glass and basalt. Design/methodology/approach:
The test panels have been impregnated with thermoset resin. Curing was done by autoclave processing. In order to obtain comparable fibre volume contents of approx. 60 % in the different layups (monolithic and hybrid without and with separating layer), curing cycles adapted to the type of layup have been identified. The resulting fibre volume content of the test panels has been determined both by weighing and experimentally by chemical extraction and calcination. The impact load was applied by an instrumented experimental setup. Thereby both commercially available bullets and bearing balls accelerated with weighted propellant in a sabot have been used as impactors. The measured values are the velocities of the bearing balls as the impactor before and after penetration of the test panels.
Findings:
In both cases the results show the energy dissipation capacity of each single kind of fibre in case of the monolithic layups as well as the enhanced properties of the hybrid stacked layups without and with the separating layer as a core material. Typical failure modes on the impact surface and on the outlet areas are identified.
Research limitations/implications:
The influence of the respective kind of impactors, namely bullets and bearing balls, on the evaluated results is identified. Thereby the bearing balls exhibited a higher degree of reproducibility due to several reasons.
Originality/value:
Fibre reinforced plastics with hybrid stacking sequences can be used as load-bearing structures and at the same time as safety structures for passengers in automotive or aerospace applications. Moreover, with the hybrid stacked composites lightweight concepts can efficiently be realized regarding energy saving issues.…
