Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Maritime and Naval Science and Engineering

The Impact Behaviour of Composite Materials

CHIRCOR MIHAEL1, DUMITRACHE RAMONA2,
DUMITRACHE COSMIN LAURENTIU3
Navigation and Maritime Transport
Constanta Maritime University
Constanta, 104 Mircea cel Batran
ROMANIA
1
[email protected]; 2 [email protected];
3
[email protected]

Abstract: Compared to traditional materials (steel and its alloys), composite materials have unique advantages of
stating: high strength and stiffness - including the request variables and shock, good resistance to the environment
(temperatures, rain, UV, humidity, temperature variations, etc.) and good mechanical stability, low density, and
insulating properties and high fire, high resistance to wear and corrosion.

Key-Words: composite, test, impact, resistance, energy, strength

1 Introduction of the fibers from de matrix and to a considerable

In terms of structure, materials can be divided into absorption energy. When designing the composite
four basic categories: metals, polymers, ceramics, materials, it is necessary to make sure that the links
composite materials. A composite structure is a between the fibers and the matrix arent too weak,
material composed of two or more phases combined because a low shear resistance also influences in a
in a macroscopic scale, whose properties are negative way the impact behavior.
superior constituent materials, acting in an A simple analysis method of impact properties is
independent manner. In other words, a composite the measurement of the stiffness expressed in the
combining at least two different materials both necessary energy for breaking a random geometry
chemically and geometrically. bar. For homogeneous and isotropic materials, Izod
(Figure 2) or Charpy conventional tests (Figure 1)
and notched bars are being used which lead to
great tension concentrations, thus minimizing the
2 The Impact Behaviour of Composite energy necessary for breaking. These tests may be
Materials also successfully used in the case of the composite
materials, for comparative studies.

Missile Hammer
2.1 Impact Testing Devices
Unlike metals, fiber reinforced composite materials
dont undergo plastic deformations after the impact. t Specimen
22 mm

Near the impact area may appear elastic Specimen

deformations (in the case of a low intensity impact) 40 mm t
or deteriorations of the material (the separation of
Anvil
the fibers from the matrix, matrix cracking, fiber Grip
breaking). The absorbed energy consequent to the
impact depends, among others parameters, on the
fiber resins link resistance. If this link is strong, a Fig. 1. Schematic Fig. 2 Schematic
continuous crack may spread along the material. In representation of Charpy representation of Izod
the case of a weak link, the generated crack may testing stand testing stand
have an irregular form, leading to a rapid separation

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 Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Maritime and Naval Science and Engineering

Although the deterioration mechanisms (matrix testing the unidirectional or canvas fiber reinforced
crack, fiber separation or yield) may occur in an multilayer composite materials on low velocity
independent manner, the interaction of these impact. These tests can be run on various energy
factors and the fiber type, the matrix type/state and levels, thus obtaining: the delaminated surface
environment state and matrix fiber links define area; the depth of the missile mark; the residual
the impact and the possible yielding of the material traction resistance after the impact.
as a very complex phenomenon. There are many
methods for identifying the performances of the
Semi-spherical
composite materials on impact. Figures 3 and 4 missile
show two devices.
Guiding
Kerfs
column

Supporting
elements

Bracing
columns

Bracing
Fig. 3 Low velocity impact device used frames
for pre-stressed composite materials Base
plate

Fig. 5 Impact stress device

The device has a compact structure consisting in a

OL37 rectangular stand plate having the
Fig. 4 Blast gun for vmed of
pre-stressed composite materials
dimensions of 500 x 300 x 20 [mm]. The plate is
provided with a window of 350 x 200 [mm] in
The various ways of breaking lead to various dimensions. The bar plate, with dimensions of
unconventional types of mechanisms related to the 300 x 150 [mm] is provided with four holes of 7
absorbed energy during material yielding on in the corners, which insure the grip on the base
impact. The breaking manners and accordingly the plate through a frame. The impact is obtained
absorbed energies are influenced by factors, such using a missile with a mass varying from 3 to 6 kg,
as: fiber orientation, bar geometry, impact velocity, which is lead in a 1,65 m long cylindrical column.
etc. A widely used test in the case of impact In order to obtain various energy levels, the
behavior study of composite plates is the drop- leading column is provided with 10 equidistant
weight test, where the bar placed on a rigid stand is holes for retaining the missile at different heights.
hit by a body with known weight which falls down When the retainer is removed, the missile slides
from a certain height. This height may vary in and hits the bar which is stuck on the plate. The
order to obtain de desired impact velocity. missile has the length of 195 mm and is made of a
In Figure 5 is showed an impact stress device for cylindrical body with a 50 mm diameter which
fiber reinforced multilayer composite materials, in continues with a semispherical area with the radius
accordance to the 04.26.383 IGC standard for of 8 mm. The obtained energy levels vary from 5

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 Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Maritime and Naval Science and Engineering

to 95 J. In order to obtain lower energies (115 comparable as size, knowing the total energy is not
J), a smaller size missile could be used (1 kg mass enough for explaining material behavior during
and 10 mm semispherical radius). The device breaking. In order to establish the E energy
prevents the multiple impact. absorbed by the bar, based on impact experimental
data, the following formula is often used:
Phase of
Phase of
breakage brakage E = Ea(1- Ea/4E0), (1)
initiation spreading
where Ea is the energy registered by the
oscilloscope on the energy time diagram and Eo is
Load P

Ei Ep defined by the following formula:

Time [t]
Eo = mv2/2, (2)
Fig. 6 The phenomenon which appears during the
impact where vo is the initial impact rate.

2.2 The Impact Energy 2.3 The Influence of Various Parameters on

The phenomenon which occurs during the impact, Impact Properties
according to the various loads, is showed by Figure Using the devices showed in Figures 3 and 4, Jain
6. L.K and Yiu-Wing Mai have tested the impact
The force time diagram can be split in two behaviour of the panels made from a small number
phases: one, when the breakage begins and the of fiber glass or phenolic resins layers at firs not
second when the breakage is spreading. As the subjected to any traction and afterwards subjected
load increases during phase one, the elastic to traction and compression forces with imposed
deformation energy is gathered in the bar, deformations of 0,5%, using low speeds (a few
subsequently leading to a microscopic scale m/s), medium speeds (3-200 m/s) and high speeds
breakage. At the same time, yielding mechanisms (over 900 m/s, energy impact higher than 2,69 kJ).
at a microscopic level can occur (micro-buckling Before being tested the panels were analyzed using
of the fiber on the compressed side, link breaking an undestructive control method (ultrasound
in the fiber matrix interface, etc.) scanning) in order to track down delamination or
When the critical load is reached at the end of the the presence of some faults. After impact, the
first phase, the composite material bar may yield assays were visually analyzed and part of them
due to the traction or shear breakage, depending on were analyzed by ultrasounds in order to track
the relative values of the inter-laminar traction or down the delamination spreading. Comparative
the shear resistance. Once reached this point, the measurements were made at various positive and
spreading of the breakage may take place in a negative pre-deformation grades.
catastrophic way as in the case of fragile
materials (at high loads) or in a progressive way Generally, the impact with or without imposed
by keeping on absorbing the energy (at low loads). deformations leads to the appearance of some
The total impact energy Et registered on the delamination, fiber fractures and, sometimes,
testing device or by an oscilloscope (on the energy material perforations caused by the bullet. The
time variation diagram) during loading consists deteriorations are analyzed by the width of the
of Ei initiating energy and Ep spreading energy. delaminated area, indicated after the ultrasound
The fragile materials are defined by high values of scanning. These attempts show that on impact
the breakage initiation energy and by low values of stresses simultaneously made with a bar pre-
the breakage spreading energy, while tough deformation, smaller breakage deformations were
materials are defined by a low breakage initiation obtained in comparison to the impact followed by a
energy and by a high spreading energy. Giving the traction/compression stress (Figure 7.).
fact that after summarization fragile and tough
materials may have total impact energies

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 Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Maritime and Naval Science and Engineering

Medium velocity impact resistance. Measurements

obtained by C ultrasound scanning showed that
row materials dont change after traction pre-
stressing, while Kevlar and carbon fiber composite
materials are considerably changed after
compression pre-stressing. Also, carbon fiber
composite materials considerably depend on
resins stiffness: the matrix gets stiffer as the
delamination rate decreases. In the case of an
impact with an 2.8 J and 80 m/s energy, after a
traction pre-stressing, the performance of carbon
fiber composite material considerably depends on
Fig. 7 Delamination area depending on fiber resistance because, if the fiber resistance gets
extension / compression pre-deformation higher, the material will have a better behaviour.
Also, IMS and HTA carbon-epoxy fibers have an
increased sensibility to compression pre-stress.

High velocity impact resistance. The impact with

high speeds has been tested on a small number of
test-pieces. The high speeds tests show that the
fiberglass multilayered materials undergo a much
bigger delamination than carbon or Kevlar fibers
but, when they are subjected to an impact with a
5,56 mm perforating bullets/ missiles, they absorb
twice the energy. The impact with a speed of 1,4
km/s on a prestressed bar showed major composite
Fig. 8 A few impact resistances deterioration leading to the perforation of the
entire plate.
Low velocity impact resistance. Measurements
made with the C scanner indicate a slight increase When using thin multilayered materials with high
in traction pre-stressed row material deteriorations rigidity fibers, the deteriorations occurring after the
and a considerably increase in compression impact can be very serious. Although some factors
stressed carbon fiber reinforced composite (fiber orientation, type of canvas, etc.) may
materials deteriorations (Figure 7). For all carbon seriously affect the impact resistance, the carbon is
fiber types, the obtained deteriorations decrease as often used in combinations with one or more types
the resins stiffness increases. For a 1,75 ms-1 strain of fiber in engineering structures stressed on severe
rate and a 5J energy, residual deformation of XAS impact. For example, the hybrid canvas where at
carbon fiber composite materials decreases as the least two types of fibers are bonded in the same
pre-tension increases, the same happening to a matrix. The Figure 1.8. shows comparative impact
composite material made of fiberglass canvas resistance of some fiber reinforced multilayered
enclosed in a phenolic resin or to a Kevlar composite materials, often used in the industry
composite bar, though glass-epoxy bars have a field.
high deformability before they break. On The impact behaviour of fiber reinforced
compression, in the case of carbon fiber composite composite materials had been studied using a
materials, is shown a decrease of the properties standard Charpy impact device, which provided
comparing to the others two (R glass and XAS) the first very useful results. For a fiber reinforced
where no change was observed after the polymeric composite material it had been shown
compression pre-stressing. Fiberglass enclosed that its impact behavior depends on time, which is
ceramic matrix composite material also undergoes the speed that the hammer has when it hits the bar.
changes on compression pre-stressing. Rotem and Lifschitz proved that the tensile

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 Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Maritime and Naval Science and Engineering

strength of a fiber reinforced composite material of Mallick and Broutman obtained on cross linked
increases as the strain rate increases, on fiber fiber composite materials are showed in Figure 10.
direction. Later, Broutman made some attempts On the line which indicates the influence of fiber
regarding the impact on fiberglass and polymeric orientation on the absorbed energy, a symmetry can
resins or epoxy reinforced composite materials or be seen with respect to the 45 direction, where the
on graphite, glass and Kevlar fiber hybrid chart reaches a minimum value.
composite materials using a device endowed with
an impactor by varying some parameters. The
plates on which the attempts were made are
unidirectional fiber composite materials or cross
linked fiber oriented at 0 and 90.
During these attempts the following parameters
have been modified: fiber orientation, impact rate,
the impact velocity, missiles weight, the bars
dimensions, height of fall.
One of the important parameters which affect the
composite materials behavior on impact is the fiber
orientation. The effect of the fibers orientation
angle on the impact of composite materials has
been investigated by Mallick and Broutman, on E-
glass epoxy multilayered materials. The exact
configuration of the composite materials was
[0/90/04]s, respectively [(0/90)3/0]s.
Each of the two configurations was made of 13
layers of 0,25 mm. The rectangular bars were cut
so that the fibers from the external layers formed
0, 15, 45, 75 and 90 angles, in the longitudinal
direction (Fig. 9). In all these cases, the loading has
been made perpendicularly on the multilayered
materials plan. The absorbed energy related to
multilayered material width dependent on the fiber
orientation direction is showed in Figure 10.

b y
l

h x
L/2 L/2
z

Fig. 9 Impact test schematization

Fig. 10 The influence of fiber
Its been showed that the lowest value appears orientation on the absorbed energy by an
unidirectional glass-epoxy, respectively a
when the fiber orientation direction is 60. cross linked composite material [0,90]
However, the results obtained by Agarwal and
Narangs on a Charpy impact device showed that in Another important parameter is the interface
the case of composite materials with unidirectional strength between fiber and matrix, which
fibers, the impact energy decreases as the fiber intensively affects the breakage of the composite
orientation direction increases. The minimum materials breakage.
impact energy appeared at 90 angles. The results

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 Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Maritime and Naval Science and Engineering

Yeung and Broutman varied the interface conditions strength (approximately 5 ksi) delamination is
modifying the surface treatment of the fiberglass proved to be the principal way of subsidence of
canvas. For the matrix, polyester or epoxy resins multilayered materials. So, in the case of polyester
have been chosen. In order to determine the fiber multilayered materials, the total impact strength
matrix interface strength, its apparent shear strength may be increased by decreasing the inter-phase
was measured. In the case of the composite material links. It can be observed the fact that the highest
with polyester matrix it had been shown that the value of the impact strength is reached when the
inter-phase strength may have various values shear strength is minimum.
depending on the chemical bounding agent between The breakage initiation needs a much lower energy
fiber and matrix, applied on fibers surface. On when the inter-phase link is weak, the maximum
epoxy matrix composite materials the inter-phase value of this energy being reached during
strength cant vary because the epoxy resins are delamination, which appears after the breakage
capable to create a strong link between fiber and initiation in the multilayered materials. The bar
matrix, even if the bounding agent is missing. The supports a much lower capacity during spread but
results of impact tests made on Charpy device for all this time it absorbs a much bigger amount of
epoxy and polyester composite materials are energy because of the great distortions which may
showed in Figure 11, where the impact energies appear. In the case of the epoxy multilayered
values (initial, spreading, total) on surface unit, materials the inter-phase link is not so decreased as
to induce a drastic delamination in the composite
U1i = Ei/bh , U1p = Ep/bh , U1t = Et/bh , (3) material. So, in the case of polyester matrix
multilayered materials, at higher values than the
are calculated according to the apparent shear critical shear strength necessary for reaching the
resistance. It can be easily noticed that the specific minimum value of the impact energy, this energy
energy increases as the shear resistance of the increases as the interlaminar shear strength
polyester and epoxy multilayer materials increases. increases. The way that the epoxy matrix breaks is
At the same time, the bending resistance of the mainly the result of the fibers fracture.
multilayer materials increases, thus showing a very
good inter-phase bond as well as high values for the 3 Conclusion
inter-laminar tensions. The impact energies In many cases, using composites is more efficient.
necessary for breakage have higher values for the For example, in the highly competitive market, one
epoxy matrix multi-layered materials as compared is continuously looking for ways to lower the
to the ones with polyester matrix. overall mass of the craft without decreasing the
stiffness and strength of its components. This is
possible by replacing conventional metal alloys
with composite materials. Even if the composite
material costs may be higher, the reduction in the
number of parts in an assembly and the savings in
fuel costs make them more profitable.
These may include improved strength, stiffness,
fatigue and impact resistance, thermal conductivity,
corrosion resistance, etc.

References:
1. A.F. Avila et al., International Journal of Impact
Engineering 34 40, 2007, pp. 2841
Fig. 11 The influence of fiber matrix interface strength on 2. Agarwal, B.D., Broutman, L.J., Analysis and
impact energy of glass-polyester composite materials. performance of Fiber Composites, New York, Wiley,
1990
In the case of polymer multilayered materials, the 3. Aymerich F, Onnis R, Priolo P., Analysis of the
spreading and total impact energy lines show a fracture behaviour of a stitched single-lap joint
minimum. At lower values of apparent shear composites, 2005;36(5):603 - 14

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