EFFECTS OF FIBRE MATRIX ADHESION ON CARBON-FIBER-REINFORCED METAL LAMINATES - II - IMPACT BEHAVIOR/

Quasi-static, low-hanging and high-velocity impact tests have been con ducted in order to study the effect of fibre/matrix adhesion on the im pact properties of fibre-reinforced metal laminates. Differences in fi bre/matrix adhesion were achieved by using treated or untreated carbon fibres in an epoxy resin system. Chemical removal of the aluminium la yers and a sectioning technique were applied to examine and characteri ze the impact damage in the laminates. The results show that the lamin ates with the weaker fibre/matrix adhesion exhibit larger damage zones , although rite back face crack length and permanent indentation after impact are smaller for a given impact energy. Residual tensile streng th after impact is also higher for the untreated fibre laminates due t o increased fibre/matrix splitting in the composite layer. (C) 1998 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.