Experimental and numerical investigations on the dynamic response of woven carbon fiber reinforced thick composite laminates under low-velocity impact

This paper represents experimental and numerical investigations into the dynamic response of woven carbon fiber reinforced thick composite laminates under low-velocity impact. Experiments with nine impact energies are carried out by the drop weight testing machine. The force-displacement curves are extracted from experimental data, and the influence of impact energy on impact response is discussed. The relationships between impact energy and impact performance such as peak force, maximum displacement, and absorbed energy are analyzed. The damage morphology obtained by digital microscope and ultrasonic C-scan is used to analyze the damage mechanisms. Experimental results show that woven composite laminates considered here exhibited several failure modes, including indentation, delamination, matrix cracks and fiber breakage. The finite element model is established to study the complex damage and failure mechanisms by employing ABAQUS/Explicit. Good consistency is achieved between the experimental and numerical results by comparing the force-time curves, impact resistance and damage status. Finally, the impact damage behavior of woven composite laminates with helicoidal layups is explored.