Investigating the roles of fiber, resin, and stacking sequence on the low-velocity impact response of novel hybrid thermoplastic composites

This study investigates the effects of fiber type, resin type, and stacking sequence on the dynamic response of fiber-reinforced polymer composite (FRPC) laminates under low-velocity impact (LVI) tests. Novel thermoplastic (TP) laminates are fabricated with a newly developed liquid methyl methacrylate thermoplastic resin, Elium (R) 188, at room temperature. FRPCs comprising woven ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fabrics, woven carbon fabrics, and two different hybrid systems with alternative stacking sequences of those fibers are fabricated by the vacuum-assisted resin infusion (VARI) method. Besides, equivalent thermosetting-based (TS) composites with two epoxy systems are fabricated to compare the role of matrix type. Impact tests at different energy levels are performed on the TP and TS laminates to investigate the impact characteristics, namely contact force, deflection, energy attributes, structural integrity, and failure/damage modes. Besides, the mechanics of structure genome (MSG) and the commercial finite element code ABAQUS are used to verify the experimental results for one of the developed laminates. The results demonstrate that the hybrid system with UHMWPE fibers on the sides exhibits lower structural loss up to 47% and lower absorbed energy by 18% compared to those presented by the other type of hybrid system comprising carbon fabrics on the sides. Besides, it is found that the newly developed TP laminate underwent extended plasticity and presented a ductile behavior. The newly developed TP laminate demonstrated lower structural loss up to 200%, lower contact force by 14%, and lower absorbed energy by 48% compared to those of TS counterparts.