Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.67, No.9, 1565-1571, 1998
Impact behavior of glass-epoxy composites containing foam material
The comparative performance under repeated low mass pendulum impacts of glass-epoxy (G-E) composites, without and with the inclusion in the form of individual flexible foam sheet layer of either two numbers or three numbers at predetermined positions in the lay-up, is reported. Employing square cross-section test coupons, the orientation of the test specimen was changed with respect to the impact direction such that, in one case, the G-E part and the foam layers constituting the system was lying along the direction of impact in an edgewise manner; in the second case, the change was achieved by turning the specimen by 90 degrees i.e., perpendicular (flatwise). The number of impacts causing specimen failure was noted in all the cases. While foam-free samples sustained a greater number of hits in the first set of experiments, foam-bearing ones performed better in the flatwise configuration. To interpret these observations, light macroscopic examination was conducted on the impacted samples. A correlation could be established between the macroscopic features and the impact results.