THE ROLE OF REINFORCEMENT ARCHITECTURE ON IMPACT DAMAGE MECHANISMS AND POSTIMPACT COMPRESSION BEHAVIOR

This review considers the link between the damage tolerance of composi te laminates and the nature and organization of the fibre reinforcemen t. This embraces composites made from unidirectional prepregs through composites based on a variety of textile forms such as woven fabrics, multiaxial fabrics, braids and knits. The objective has been firstly t o detail how the differing varieties of composite exhibit different pr operties under impact conditions and under subsequent loading after im pact. This includes both fracture mechanisms and data such as energy a bsorption, and peak failure loads. The second objective is to describe the links that have been found between these properties and the speci fic fibre architectures and damage development processes in the variou s composite forms. The post impact compression properties are highligh ted as this is the area of greatest interest by end-users. The review describes the different forms of textiles that are used for composite reinforcement, considers different impact conditions (e.g. low velocit y and ballistics), general materials variables such as fibre and resin type, and ultimately looks at specific textile systems. Some consider ation is also given to the value and role of numerical modelling in th e field of damage formation and damage tolerance. Clear differences ha ve been found in the literature between composites based on different textile forms in terms of damage states after impact and the consequen ces of this damage on subsequent properties. While the literature is c learly incomplete at this time there is sufficient information availab le to indicate that control of fibre organization by the use of textil es may be an effective method of optimizing composite properties for s pecific end use properties.