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

Tharan M G Gordon; Xiaodong Xu; Michael R Wisnom; Stephen R Hallett; Byung Chul (Eric) Kim

doi:10.1016/j.compositesa.2022.107391

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

Tharan M G Gordon, Xiaodong Xu, Michael R Wisnom, Stephen R Hallett, Byung Chul (Eric) Kim^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

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.

Original language	English
Article number	107391
Journal	Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing
Volume	166
Early online date	20 Dec 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2022.107391
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 20 Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was funded by the EPSRC project “Novel Tow Termination for High-Quality AFP Production of Composite Structures with Blended Ply Drop-offs” (EP/P027288/1) and the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) grant (EP/L016028/1).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

Keywords

carbon fibres
impact behaviour
delamination
non-destructive testing
ply drop

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10.1016/j.compositesa.2022.107391

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Persistent link

EPSRC First grant: Novel Tow Termination Technology for High-Quality AFP Production of Composite Structures with Blended Ply Drop-offs
Kim, B. C. (Principal Investigator)
1/07/17 → 31/12/19
Project: Research

Cite this

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title = "Improved impact damage resistance of tapered composite laminates using a ply scarfing technique",

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.",

keywords = "carbon fibres, impact behaviour, delamination, non-destructive testing, ply drop",

author = "Gordon, {Tharan M G} and Xiaodong Xu and Wisnom, {Michael R} and Hallett, {Stephen R} and Kim, {Byung Chul (Eric)}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was funded by the EPSRC project “Novel Tow Termination for High-Quality AFP Production of Composite Structures with Blended Ply Drop-offs” (EP/P027288/1) and the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) grant (EP/L016028/1). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022",

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AU - Gordon, Tharan M G

AU - Xu, Xiaodong

AU - Wisnom, Michael R

AU - Hallett, Stephen R

AU - Kim, Byung Chul (Eric)

N1 - Funding Information: This work was funded by the EPSRC project “Novel Tow Termination for High-Quality AFP Production of Composite Structures with Blended Ply Drop-offs” (EP/P027288/1) and the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) grant (EP/L016028/1). Publisher Copyright: © 2022

PY - 2023/12/20

Y1 - 2023/12/20

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - carbon fibres

KW - impact behaviour

KW - delamination

KW - non-destructive testing

KW - ply drop

U2 - 10.1016/j.compositesa.2022.107391

DO - 10.1016/j.compositesa.2022.107391

M3 - Article (Academic Journal)

SN - 1359-835X

VL - 166

JO - Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing

JF - Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing

M1 - 107391

ER -

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

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Projects

EPSRC First grant: Novel Tow Termination Technology for High-Quality AFP Production of Composite Structures with Blended Ply Drop-offs

Cite this