Low velocity response of simple geometry pultruded glass/polyester composite

This paper describes an investigation into the low velocity impact response of relatively simple geometry coupons taken from a pultruded glass/polyest er product, The pultruded lay-up is a typical three ply design - a unidirec tional fibre ply sandwiched between two continuous filament mat plies. By e mploying a simple geometry the impact response under transverse and longitu dinal bending, and shear loading are considered. Impact tests from low ener gy through to final failure were conducted using the instrumented falling w eight impact test technique. Through a detailed analysis involving ultrason ic C-scan, optical microscopy, and thermal deply all the major damage modes (delamination, fibre breakage and matrix cracking) were related to the for ce-deflection responses. (C) 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers.