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.