An Experimental and Numerical Study of the Dynamic Response of Glass/Epoxy Composites under Impact Loading at Low Temperatures

An analytical method was applied to investigate the effects of strain rate and low temperature on the energy absorption of composite specimens. The performance of analytical model was found to be adequate for modeling composites before failure initiation. Results indicated that impact performance of composites is affected over the range of temperature considered. Failure mechanism was changed from matrix cracking at room temperature to delamination and fiber breakage at low temperatures. Also it was shown that about 70 percent of total energy absorbed by specimen was used for destruction of the composite under different types of failure mechanisms.