INFLUENCE OF LOW VELOCITY IMPACT ON THE FATIGUE BEHAVIOR OF WOVEN HEMP / EPOXY COMPOSITE

1 General introduction During recent years, as a result of environmental a nd economical concerns, there is a growing interest in the use of natural fiber reinforced composites. Pla nt fibers are good ecological candidates for substitut ion of synthetic ones such as glass and Kevlar in terms of specific mechanical properties in composite materials [1] [2]. But knowledge of their resistance to impact, though important for semi-structural applications, is still scarce [3]. The purpose of this work is to study the resistance to low velocity impact of woven hemp/epoxy matrix composites and the influence of impact damage on their residual quasi-static tensile and cyclic fati gue strength. Drop weight impact tests were performed on woven hemp/epoxy composite specimens and analysis of impact behavior and the characterizatio n of damage modes were carried out. Then, impacted specimens were tested in quasi-static and cyclic fatigue tensile loadings.