An Experimental Investigation on the Impact Behaviour of Glass/Epoxy and Hybrid Composite Plates

Abstract

In this study, the impact behaviours of glass/epoxy and hybrid (glass-carbon/epoxy) composite plates have been investigated experimentally. The increasing impact energy was performed on composite plates until complete perforation of samples. An energy profiling diagram, showing the relationship between impact energy and absorbed energy, was used together with load-deflection curves to determine the penetration and perforation thresholds of composite plates. The failure processes of damaged specimens for different impact energies were evaluated by comparing load-deflection curves and images of damaged samples taken from impacted sides and non-impacted sides. Cross-sections of damaged specimens for both plates were also inspected visually and discussed to assess the extent of damage, such as fibre fracture in layers, expansion of delaminations between adjacent layers. The perforation threshold of hybrid composite impacted from surface with carbon fibres was found approximately 30% and 15% higher than those of surface with glass fibres of hybrid plates and glass/epoxy plates, respectively.