Effects of Impactor Geometry on Pultruded Composites Under Low-Velocity Impact Loading

An experimental program on the drop-weight impact response of pultruded composites subjected to low-velocity impact loading was performed. The specimens were struck by impactors of various geometries in order to investigate the effects of geometric parameters on the damage evolution of such material. To minimize other parametric effects such as impact energies, impact velocities, and impactor masses, the specimens were subjected to a fixed impact energy level of 240 J with a uniform impactor mass and a constant dropping height. The impact characteristics and performance acquired from the tests were compared to present the differences of impact response on the pultruded composites. Damage evaluation was introduced to compare the failure modes associated with the impact events. The results demonstrated that the extent of damage varies with respect to the change of the sharpness of the impactors. The impact performance in terms of maximum impact load and energy absorption ratio increases with the increase of the flatness of the impactor surfaces (initial contact area) whereas the contact duration decreases slightly with respect to the initial contact areas.