Delamination in Hybrid FRP Laminates under Low Velocity Impact

The present article deals with assessment of impact-induced delamination in hybrid fiber reinforced plastic laminated composites. Studies have been conducted on single material graphite/epoxy and kevlar/epoxy laminates as well as graphite/epoxy-kevlar/epoxy hybrid laminates to determine their responses to impact loading. Eight-noded layered solid elements have been used for finite element modeling of FRP laminates. Newmark-method along with Hertzian contact law has been used for transient dynamic finite element analysis. Stresses at the interfaces have been calculated using least-square formulation proposed by Hinton and Campbell. Based on the stresses calculated, delamination at the interfaces have been assessed using appropriate delamination criterion. It has been observed that even though the contact force magnitude is much less in the case of kevlar/epoxy laminates compared to that in graphite/epoxy laminates, the number of interfaces where delamination occurs as well as the delamination extent is greater in the case of kevlar/epoxy laminates. From the present study it could be observed that kevlar/epoxy-graphite/epoxy laminate is a better choice for guarding against impact-induced failure in laminated composites.

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