High velocity impact on textile reinformced composties (CD-rom)

Failure behavior of fiber reinforced plastics is a complex issue. Under impact conditions, the behavior depends among other aspects, on the structure formed by the fibers, the impact velocity and the geometry considered. A newly built gas-gun facility for high velocity impact (HSI) at the University of Twente was the opportunity to compare with existing equipment for quasi-static impact (QSI) and low velocity impact (LSI). For this purpose, three vinyl-ester glass fiber based composites with varying fiber structure (2-D and 3-D weaves, kindly supplied by 3TEX) were analyzed for their failure behavior at different velocities. In all cases the geometry and clamping conditions was not varied. The damage development was observed in detail during the quasi-static test. Results obtained during these tests were used as a basis for comparison for the higher velocities. Analysis was made of the amount of damage of the different structure at the used velocities. Also the energy absorbed by the different specimens was considered.