Low-velocity impact studies on GFRP and hybrid composite structures

In this study, low-velocity impact analysis on glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) and hybrid laminates is performed through an explicit numerical analysis and relevant experiments. Hybridised composite laminates are fabricated by sandwiching the flexible Polycarbonate sheet between the glass fibre-reinforced polymer laminas. In order to analyse the improvement in the impact resistance of hybrid laminates, low-velocity impact tests are performed on both GFRP and hybrid laminates by dropping an impactor from various pre-defined heights and the absorbed energy in each case is estimated. Results from the numerical analysis are validated with experimental results. Based on the numerical and experimental analysis, variation of the absorbed energy as a function time is estimated. Furthermore, shapes of the damaged areas are also estimated using the experimental specimens. Analysis of results indicates that the hybrid laminates display better energy absorption characteristics before rupture, as compared to the GFRP laminates. For a given energy absorption weight, savings up to 30.77% are observed using polycarbonate-based hybrid composites as compared to the GFRP laminates.