Influences of Impactor Parameters on the Impact Damage Response of Composite Laminate

The low-energy impact damage responses of a composite laminate prepared by prepreg forming process were studied under the impacts with various impactors. Firstly, the impactors made of steel, aluminum and polymer were applied to impact the laminates at the same energy (60 J) by using drop weight/air gun facilities. Then, the damaged structures after impact were compressed to obtain the residual strength/residual stiffness of composites under low-energy impact. From these experimental results, one can see that with the same impact energy, the damage responses of composite laminate impacted by the same material (with different mass and velocity) are almost the same, however, the results of impactors with different materials are significantly different. The Hertzian contact theory is employed to illustrate the influence of elastic parameters of impactors on the contact stiffness as well as the damage responses of composite laminate. Copyright ©2022 Transaction of Beijing Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.