Improving Damage Tolerance Of Composite Sandwich Structures Subjected To Low Velocity Impact Loading

Download or read book Improving Damage Tolerance of Composite Sandwich Structures Subjected to Low Velocity Impact Loading written by Ravi B. Gondaliya and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sandwich structures with composite facing skins have seen applications in variety of sectors including aerospace and automobile, owning to their high specific mechanical properties. However, there is a need to develop better damage tolerant sandwich structures since conventional composite facing skins exhibit low impact resistance in the transverse direction. Here, composite skin sandwich structures with three different impact resistant core materials were fabricated and tested both experimentally and numerically. Neat CFRP and 2024-T3 aluminum alloy sheets were also investigated. Cores utilizing impact resistant D30® were found to have very favorable weight specific energy absorbing properties at higher impact velocities as compared to those made from Nomex® or Sorbothane® cores. Nonlinear finite element analysis was also performed using Hypermesh/LS-DYNA for 2024-T3 aluminum alloy sheet, neat CFRP and sandwich with Nomex core with CFRP faceskins. Numerical vs Experimental impact results were compared and comments regarding impact behavior of different candidate materials were made. CAI tests were performed for CFRP sandwich structures. Sandwiches with cores made out of D30® and Sorbothane® showed more ductility when compared with Nomex® core sandwich composite.