Influence of impact velocity on impact behaviour of hybrid woven-fibers reinforced PEEK thermoplastic laminates

Abstract

This study aims at examining the impact behavior of hybrid carbon and glass fibers woven-ply reinforced PolyEther Ether Ketone (PEEK) thermoplastic quasi-isotropic laminates. An instrumented Charpy pendulum is specifically designed to estimate its capability to perform low velocity impact tests. Through the comparison of different impact methods (Quasi-static indentation tests, Charpy and drop tower impacts), the influence of impact velocity on the impact behavior of this hybrid composite material is investigated. From the obtained results, it appears that the macroscopic impact response is similar in terms of force-displacement response. Indeed, the impact velocity is significantly higher (2.5 times higher) with falling weight impact testing. In PEEK-based laminates whose mechanical behaviour is time-dependent, slow loading rates (e.g. Charpy impact testing) are instrumental in ruling the dissipated energy (+20% at 35 and 40J) as well as in increasing the permanent indentation (1.6 times higher) that is always higher than the Barely Visible Impact Damage.

Keywords

• Impact velocity
• Thermoplastic composite
• Permanent indentation
• Charpy
• Drop tower
• Quasi-static indentation