Paper
Assessment of Impact Damage Resistance and Tolerance of Polymer Nanofiber Interleaved Composite Laminates
- Authors:
- Kunigal Shivakumar; Paul Akangah
- Abstract
- Polymer nanofiber interleaving is a novel technology to enhance toughness of composite laminates. This paper focuses on the comparison of low velocity impact damage resistance and tolerance of base (no interleaving) and polymer nanofiber interleaved composite laminates. A 24-ply aerospace grade AS4/3501-6 Carbon/Epoxy laminate was made in an autoclave. The interleaved laminate was made by placing a layer of Nylon-66 nanofiber between the adjacent plies and at the top and bottom of the laminate. The nanofabric was made by electrospinning 12% wt. of Nylon-66 solution made by dissolving Nylon-66 crystals in a mixture of 90% formic acid and chloroform in a weight ratio of 75/25, respectively. The average areal density of the fabric was 0.7 g/m2 and the AS4/3501-6 composite ply was 260 g/m2. Impacted panels were c-scanned and the measured damage of the two laminates was compared with each other. Compression was implemented to the specimens for impact test to measure the damage tolerance. Results showed that polymer nanofiber interleaving does have a potential to improve impact damage resistance and tolerance. Specifically, interleaving increased the threshold impact force by about 12% and the compression strength by about 10%.
- Keywords
- Nanofiber; Impact Damage; Impact Resistance; Interleaving
- StartPage
- 39
- EndPage
- 52
- Doi