Effect of impactor shape and temperature on the behavior of E-glass/epoxy composite laminates

In this research, low velocity impact tests have been carried out on laminated composite plates to investigate the impactor shape and temperature effect on the dynamic behavior and material damage. The woven E glass/ epoxy laminates were manufactured. The studies have been done on plate with dimensions of 120 mm× 120 mm× 3 mm, impactor with 1.4 m/s incident velocity and 7 kg mass. Specimens have been impacted by using steel flat, hemispherical, ogival and conical impactors, all 12.7 mm in diameter. The specimens impacted by the conical impactor absorbed most energy because of local penetration. The flat impactor caused the highest peak force and lowest contact duration as expected. The force history of the impactor, projectile displacement and absorbed energy of different impactor shapes has been measured and compared with each other. The temperatures were in the range of room temperature to 150 °C. The parameters including maximum contact force, projectile displacement and the absorbed energy of different temperature have been investigated. Maximum contact force decreased with increasing of temperature, and deflection of impactor increased with increasing of temperature.