Improved impact damage resistance of tapered composite laminates using a ply scarfing technique

Gordon, Tharan; Xu, Xiaodong; Wisnom, Michael; Hallett, Stephen; Kim, Byung Chul

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation into the effect of scarfed ply drops on the low velocity impact response of asymmetrically tapered, multi-directional, carbon/epoxy laminates, in comparison with that of conventional ply drops. Impact load was applied to the flat side of the tapered region at an energy level of 12 J. The effect of ply scarfing on the internal damage evolution during impact was then investigated using X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) scanning. It was found that the scarfed ply drops reduced stress concentrations at the terminated plies and effectively prevented fibre breakage compared to non-scarfed conventional ply drops. Furthermore, the laminates with scarfed ply drops exhibited less delamination and a lower degree of internal matrix cracking than those with conventional ply drops, and thus were deemed more damage resistant despite having near identical external damage.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 18, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Dec 20, 2022
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Dec 19, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 21, 2023
• Journal: Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
• Print ISSN: 1359-835X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 166
• Pages: 107391
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2022.107391
• Keywords: carbon fibres; impact behaviour; delamination; non-destructive testing
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10262540
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359835X22005723