Finite element model for compression after impact behaviour of stitched composites

A finite element (FE) model using coupling continuum shell elements and cohesive elements is proposed to simulate the compression after impact (CAI) behaviour and predict the CAI strength of stitched composites. Continuum shell elements with Hashin failure criterion exhibit the composite laminate damage behaviour; whilst cohesive elements using traction-separation law characterise the laminate interfaces. Impact-induced delamination is explicitly modelled by reducing material properties of damaged cohesive elements. Computational results have demonstrated the trend of increasing CAI strength with decreasing impact-induced delamination area. Spring elements are introduced into the model to represent through-thickness stitch thread in the composite laminates. Results in this study validate experimental finding that CAI strength is improved when stitching is incorporated into the composite structure. The proposed FE model reveals good CAI strength predictions and indicates good agreement with experimental results, making it a valuable tool for CAI strength prediction of stitched composites.     

Failure analysis of CFRP laminates subjected to compression after impact: FE simulation using discrete interface elements

This paper presents a model for the numerical simulation of impact damage, permanent indentation and compression after impact (CAI) in CFRP laminates. The same model is used for the formation of damage developing during both low-velocity/low-energy impact tests and CAI tests. The different impact and CAI elementary damage types are taken into account, i.e. matrix cracking, fiber failure and interface delamination. Experimental tests and model results are compared, and this comparison is used to highlight the laminate failure scenario during residual compression tests. Finally, the impact energy effect on the residual strength is evaluated and compared to experimental results.     

三维编织复合材料损伤容限性能试验

为研究三维编织复合材料的损伤容限性能,首先,利用同种纤维、基体和工艺分别制作了4种三维编织复合材料和1种层合复合材料;然后,进行了相同复合材料在不同冲击能量下的及不同复合材料在相同冲击能量下的低速冲击试验和冲击后压缩试验;最后,进行了冲击后的C扫描损伤检测,并对比了冲击后凹坑深度、损伤面积和损伤宽度。结果显示:层合复合材料的损伤形貌主要呈椭圆状,且分层损伤严重,而三维编织复合材料的损伤形貌主要呈十字状,三维编织复合材料的整体性较好;层合复合材料和三维编织复合材料冲击能量的拐点均出现在30 J附近;三维编织复合材料的剩余压缩强度较高,其损伤容限性能优于层合复合材料。所得结论可为三维编织复合材料的工程应用提供指导。      

Predicting low velocity impact damage and Compression-After-Impact (CAI) behaviour of composite laminates

Low-velocity impact damage can drastically reduce the residual strength of a composite structure even when the damage is barely visible. The ability to computationally predict the extent of damage and compression-after-impact (CAI) strength of a composite structure can potentially lead to the exploration of a larger design space without incurring significant time and cost penalties. A high-fidelity three-dimensional composite damage model, to predict both low-velocity impact damage and CAI strength of composite laminates, has been developed and implemented as a user material subroutine in the commercial finite element package, ABAQUS/Explicit. The intralaminar damage model component accounts for physically-based tensile and compressive failure mechanisms, of the fibres and matrix, when subjected to a three-dimensional stress state. Cohesive behaviour was employed to model the interlaminar failure between plies with a bi-linear traction–separation law for capturing damage onset and subsequent damage evolution. The virtual tests, set up in ABAQUS/Explicit, were executed in three steps, one to capture the impact damage, the second to stabilize the specimen by imposing new boundary conditions required for compression testing, and the third to predict the CAI strength. The observed intralaminar damage features, delamination damage area as well as residual strength are discussed. It is shown that the predicted results for impact damage and CAI strength correlated well with experimental testing without the need of model calibration which is often required with other damage models.     

Compressive behaviour of thin-skin stiffened composite panels with a stress raiser

The in-plane compressive behaviour of thin-skin stiffened composite panels with a stress concentrator in the form of an open hole or low velocity impact damage is examined analytically. Drop weight impact in laminated polymer composites causes matrix cracking, delaminations and fibre breakage, which together can seriously degrade the laminate compressive strength. Experimental studies, using ultrasonic C-scan images and X-ray shadow radiography, indicated that the overall damage resembles a hole. Under uniaxial compression loading, 0° fibre microbuckling surrounded by delamination grows laterally (like a crack) from the impact site as the applied load is increased. These local buckled regions continued to propagate, first in discrete increments and then rapidly at failure load. The damage pattern is very similar to that observed in laminated plates with open holes loaded in compression. Because of this resemblance, a fracture mechanics model, developed initially to predict notched compressive strength, was applied to estimate the compression-after-impact (CAI) strength of a stiffened panel; in the analysis the impact damage is replaced with an equivalent open hole. Also, the maximum stress failure criterion is employed to estimate the residual compressive strength of the panel. The unnotched compressive strength of the composite laminate required in the analysis is obtained from a three-dimensional stability theory of deformable bodies. The influence of the stiffener on the compressive strength of the thin-skin panel is examined and included in the analysis. A good agreement between experimental measurements and predicted values for the critical failure load is obtained.     

Damage resistance and damage tolerance of hybrid carbon-glass laminates

The influence of impact energy and stacking sequence on the damage resistance and Compression After Impact (CAI) strength of Carbon and Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP and GFRP respectively) hybrid laminates is investigated. CAI tests demonstrate that, in comparison to fully CFRP laminates, hybrid laminates show increases in structural efficiency of up to 51% for laminates subject to a 12J impact and 41% for those subject to an 18J impact. Laminates displaying the highest stresses at failure are those that exploit stacking sequences and GFRP content to prevent delaminations from forming close to the outer surface of the laminate during impact. This favourable damage morphology inhibits both sublaminate-buckling-driven delamination propagation and anti-symmetric laminate buckling failures.     

A Discrete Model for Simulation of Composites Plate Impact Including Coupled Intra- and Inter-ply Failure

Laminated composites can undergo complex damage mechanisms when subjected to transverse impact. For unidirectional laminates it is well recognized that delamination failure usually initiates via intra-ply shear cracks that run parallel to the fibres. These cracks extend to the interface of adjacent orthogonal plies, where they are either stopped, or propagate further as inter-ply delamination cracks. These mechanisms largely determine impact energy absorption and post-delamination bending stiffness of the laminate. Important load transfer mechanisms will occur that may lead to fibre failure and ultimate rupture of the laminate. In recent years most Finite Element (FE) models to predict delamination usually stack layers of ply elements with interface elements to represent inter-ply stiffness and treat possible delamination. The approach is computationally efficient and does give some estimate of delamination zones and damaged laminate bending stiffness. However, these models do not properly account for coupled intra-ply shear failure and delamination crack growth, and therefore cannot provide accurate results on crack initiation and propagation. An alternative discrete meso-scale FE model is presented that accounts for this coupling, which is validated against common delamination tests and impact delamination from the Compression After Impact (CAI) test. Ongoing research is using damage prediction from the CAI simulation as a basis for residual strength analysis, which will be the published in future work.     

Impact damage characterisation of carbon fibre/epoxy composites with multi-layer reinforcement

Low-velocity impact tests were performed to investigate the impact behaviour of carbon fibre/epoxy composite laminates reinforced by short fibres and other interleaving materials. Characterisation techniques, such as cross-sectional fractography and scanning acoustic microscopy, were employed quantitatively to assess the internal damage of some composite laminates at the sub-surface under impact. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe impact fractures and damage modes at the fracture surfaces of the laminate specimens. The results show that composite laminates experience various types of fracture; delamination, intra-ply cracking, matrix cracking, fibre breakage and damage depending on the interlayer materials. The trade-off between impact resistance and residual strength is minimised for composites reinforced by Zylon fibres, while that for composites interleaved by poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) (PEEA) film is substantial because of deteriorating residual strength, even though the damaged area is significantly reduced. Damages produced on the front and back surfaces of impact were also observed and compared for some laminates.     

Effect of stitch density and stitch thread thickness on compression after impact strength and response of stitched composites

In this paper, the damage failure and behaviour of stitched composites under compression after impact (CAI) loading are experimentally investigated. This study focuses on the effect of stitch density and stitch thread thickness on the CAI strength and response of laminated composites reinforced by through-thickness stitching. Experimental findings show that stitched composites have higher CAI failure load and displacement, which corresponds to higher energy absorption during CAI damage, mainly attributed to greater energy consumption by stitch fibre rupture. The coupling relationships between CAI strength, impact energy, stitch density and stitch thread thickness are also revealed. It is understood that the effectiveness of stitching has high dependency on the applied impact energy. At low impact energy range, CAI strength is found to be solely dependent on stitch density, showing no influence of stitch thread thickness. It is however observed that stitch fibre bridging is rendered ineffective in moderately stitched laminates during compressive failure, as local buckling occurs between stitch threads, resulting in unstitched and moderately stitched laminates have similar CAI strength. The CAI strength of densely stitched laminates is much higher due to effective stitch fibre bridging and numerous stitch thread breakages. At high impact energy level, CAI strength is discovered to be intimately related to both stitch density and stitch thread thickness. Since CAI failure initiates from impact-induced delamination area, stitch fibre bridging is considerable for all specimens due to the relatively large delamination area present. Stitch threads effectively bridge the delaminated area, inhibit local buckling and suppress delamination propagation, thus leading to increased CAI strength for laminates stitched with higher stitch density and larger stitch thread thickness. Fracture mechanisms and crack bridging phenomenon, elucidated by X-ray radiography are also presented and discussed. This study reveals novel understanding on the effectiveness of stitch parameters for improving impact tolerance of stitched composites.     

Fatigue residual strength of circular laminate graphite–epoxy composite plates damaged by transverse load

The research dealt with the relation between damage and tension–tension fatigue residual strength (FRS) in a quasi-isotropic carbon fibre reinforced epoxy resin laminate. The work was organized in two phases: during the first one, composite laminates were damaged by means of an out-of-plane quasi-static load that was supposed to simulate a low velocity impact; in the second phase, fatigue tests were performed on damaged and undamaged specimens obtained from the original composite laminates. During the quasi-static transverse loading phase, damage progression was monitored by means of acoustic emission (AE) technique. The measurement of the strain energy accumulated in the specimens and of the acoustic energy released by fracture events made it possible to estimate the amount of induced damage and evaluate the quasi-static residual tensile strength of the specimens. A probabilistic failure analysis of the fatigue data, reduced by the relative residual strength values, made it possible to relate the FRS of damaged specimens with the fatigue strength of undamaged ones.     

Post-impact behaviour of aerospace composites for high-temperature applications: experiments and simulations

The post-impact performance of different carbon-fabric-reinforced composite materials were studied experimentally and analytically. Three types of thermosetting matrix were considered: conventional epoxy, high-temperature curing epoxy and epoxy-isocyanate. Experimental testing consisted of impacting rectangular specimens at different energy levels by using a spring-driven impact apparatus that was able to impart velocities of up to 5 m s⁻¹ to masses of 0.5, 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0 kg travelling horizontally. After impact, coupons were non-destructively inspected by means of opaque-enhanced dye-penetrant X-radiography and tested in static compression to correlate impact energy, damage extent and residual strength. Epoxy composites contain damage within a narrow region, while epoxy-isocyanate materials propagate the damage far away from impact point. Epoxy composites show an asymptotically decreasing failure strength with impact energy up to a lower threshold (0.3–0.4 times that of the undamaged material), while epoxy-isocyanate material shows a trend of ever decreasing residual strength. An analytical study was performed by means of the finite element code PAM-FISS, used to simulate the compression-after-impact (CAI) tests. Type, size and location of damage, as well as the mechanisms leading to final failure, were reproduced quite well by the finite element analysis (FEA), while some discrepancies between FEA and experimental CAI residual strength tests were found (7% for undamaged specimens and 10% for blister-delaminated specimens); higher errors were found in the case of completely delaminated specimens, mainly owing to the inability of the present software and hardware to conveniently model the complete state of damage.     

Modelling complex progressive failure in notched composite laminates with varying sizes and stacking sequences

The emergence of advanced computational methods and theoretical models for damage progression in composites has heralded the promise of virtual testing of composite structures with orthotropic lay-ups, complex geometries and multiple material systems. Recent studies have revealed that specimen size and material orthotropy has a major effect on the open hole tension (OHT) strength of composite laminates. The aim of this investigation is develop a progressive failure model for orthotropic composite laminates, employing stepwise discretization of the traction–separation relationship, to predict the effect of specimen size and laminate orthotropy on the OHT strength. The results show that a significant interaction exists between delamination and in-plane damage, so that models without considering delamination would over-predict strength. Furthermore, it is found that the increase in fracture toughness of blocked plies must be incorporated in the model to achieve good correlation with experimental results.     

带表面防护层复合材料层板的低速冲击及冲击后压缩性能试验研究

对增加了表面防护层的国产碳纤维/增韧环氧树脂CCF300/5228A层板的低速冲击及冲击后压缩性能进行了试验研究。通过落锤式低速冲击试验,得到了各组层板的冲击接触力历程、凹坑深度和内部分层面积等特征,而冲击后压缩试验结果可用来对各组层板的损伤容限性能进行评估。结果表明,同裸板相比,加了表面防护层的层板其分层起始载荷变化不大,但形成同样的1.0 mm凹坑所需的冲击能量增大了24%~46%。而对于内部分层,在一定的冲击能量范围下,加表面防护层的层板的C扫分层面积比裸板减小了20%~50%,而在同样凹坑深度的情况下,层板在加了表面防护层之后分层面积变化不大。冲击后压缩性能与内部分层情况具有较大的关联性,同样冲击能量下分层面积较小的各组带表面防护层板,其冲击后压缩强度和破坏应变相对于裸板的提高在15%~50%之间,而在凹坑深度相同的情况下,二者的冲击后压缩强度和破坏应变相差不大。     

Effect of autofrettage on durability of CFRP composite cylinders subjected to out-of-plane loading

The objective of this study is to evaluate effects of autofrettage on durability of composite cylinders subjected to impact loading. Impact tests and damage observation were performed on the composite cylinders with and without autofrettage. Internal pressure tests were also conducted on the cylinders after impact tests. Simulated cycle tests were conducted on the rectangular plate specimens simulated as composite cylinders after impact tests. For the composite cylinder with autofrettage, absorbed energy became smaller, which was due to suppression of the damages, such as delamination. As a result, residual strength became larger and fatigue life became longer. It was clarified that CFRP composite cylinders with proper autofrettage were superior in the impact resistance.     

Effect of impact damages on the compressive strength of composite laminates

Abstract

By simplifying the impact damages as a single delamination near the surface with an elliptical boundary, the approximate solution of total strain energy release rates can be derived as a function of delamination major axis, minor axis, external compressive strain, Possion's ratio of parent medium, extensional and bending stiffnesses of sublaminate. A linear relation of residual strength versus strain energy release rate can be constructed by correlating the approximate solution with test data of compressive residual strain (strength) after impact (CSAI), indicating that the dimension between the delamination major and minor axis should be dependent. In addition, the delamination aspect ratio is found to be not only a function of the specimen geometry and the extensional stiffness, but also a function of laminate thickness. The approximate solution provides a method for predicting the post impacted strength of composite laminate for only either thick laminate or thin laminate with low impact energy.     

压缩预应力对复合材料层板抗冲击损伤性能的影响

为确定压缩预应力对复合材料层板抗冲击损伤性能的影响,首先对不同压缩预应力下的碳纤维/双马树脂CCF300/5428层板进行了低速冲击和准静态压痕试验,然后通过热揭层和冲击后压缩试验分别得到了层板分层面积和剩余强度。结果表明:压缩预应力会大幅降低层板的接触刚度和弯曲刚度,从而导致相同冲击能量下层板凹坑深度和背部基体开裂长度增大;对于准静态压痕过程和相同冲击能量下的冲击过程,分层起始载荷和峰值载荷均随压缩预应力的增大而减小;在相同冲击能量下,随着压缩预应力的增大,层板内部分层总面积及冲击能量吸收比不断增大,剩余压缩强度不断降低。因此,压缩预应力会降低复合材料层板的冲击损伤阻抗,对损伤容限性能不利,在对承受压缩载荷结构的试验验证过程中应考虑压缩预应力对抗冲击损伤性能的影响。      

Experimental investigation of impact on composite laminates with protective layers

This paper presents an experimental study of low energy impacts on composite plates covered with a protective layer. In service, composite materials are subjected to low energy impacts. Such impacts can generate damage in the material that results in significant reduction in material strength. In order to reduce the damage severity, one solution is to add a mechanical protection on composite structures. The protection layer is made up of a low density energy absorbent material (hollow spheres) of a certain thickness and a thin layer of composite laminate (Kevlar). Energy absorption ability of these protective layers can be deduced from the load/displacement impact curves. First, two configurations of protection are tested on an aluminium plate in order to identify their performance against impact, then the same are tested on composite plates. Test results from force–displacement curves and C-scan control are compared and discussed and finally a comparison of impact on composite plates with and without protection is made for different configurations.     

Simulation of delamination–migration and core crushing in a CFRP sandwich structure

Following the onset of damage caused by an impact load on a composite laminate structure, delaminations often form propagating outwards from the point of impact and in some cases can migrate via matrix cracks between plies as they grow. The goal of the present study is to develop an accurate finite element modeling technique for simulation of the delamination–migration phenomena in laminate impact damage processes. An experiment was devised where, under a quasi-static indentation load, an embedded delamination in the facesheet of a laminate sandwich specimen migrates via a transverse matrix crack and then continues to grow on a new ply interface. Using data from this test for validation purposes, several finite element damage simulation methods were investigated. Comparing the experimental results with those of the different models reveals certain modeling features that are important to include in a numerical simulation of delamination–migration and some that may be neglected.     

Fatigue life prediction of woven composite laminates with initial delamination

An engineering approach for fatigue life prediction of fibre‐reinforced polymer composite materials is highly desirable for industries due to the complexity in damage mechanisms and their interactions. This paper presents a fatigue‐driven residual strength model considering the effect of initial delamination size and stress ratio. Static and constant amplitude fatigue tests of woven composite specimens with delamination diameters of 0, 4 and 6 mm were carried out to determine the model parameters. Good agreement with experimental results has been achieved when the modified residual strength model has been applied for fatigue life prediction of the woven composite laminate with an initial delamination diameter of 8 mm under constant amplitude load and block fatigue load. It has been demonstrated that the residual strength degradation‐based model can effectively reflect the load sequence effect on fatigue damage and hence provide more accurate fatigue life prediction than the traditional linear damage accumulation models.     

Healing of low-velocity impact damage in vascularised composites

This research has sought to characterise damage formation and self-healing efficiency within vascularised carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates over a range of low velocity impact energies. Using ultrasonic C-scanning and compression after impact (CAI) analysis, vascularised laminates were shown to conform to the same damage size to residual compression strength relationship established for conventional laminates. The damage tolerance level of the host laminate was carefully determined, an important consideration in selection of the most appropriate vascule spacing for a reliable self-healing system. The healing functionality imparted full recovery of post impact compression strength over the range of impact energies tested (2.5–20 J), via healing of matrix cracking and delamination damage. The successful implementation of this technology could substantially enhance the integrity, reliability and robustness of composite structures, whilst offering benefits through reduced operational costs and extended lifetimes. However, establishing the benefits of such novel systems to existing design criteria is challenging, suggesting that bespoke design tools will be required to fully attain the potential benefits of self-healing technologies.