Impact damage behavior and evaluation of residual strength in plain-woven Glass/Epoxy composites

This study is experimentally performed to evaluate the relationship between impact damage and residual strength of plain-woven Glass/Epoxy composites, including the thickness effect. The results indicate that the major impact damage of Glass/Epoxy composites is quite different from that of unidirectional Carbon/Epoxy composites. Among the residual strength prediction models, previously proposed on unidirectional laminates, Avva's and Caprino's models well describe the strength reduction behavior of Glass/Epoxy composites. Also, the threshold and critical impact energy are significantly influenced by the thickness.