Some aspects of ultrasonic evaluation of impact damage in glass fiber-reinf
orced plastic (GFRP) composites are discussed in this paper. First and fore
most, results of a microscopic investigation are reported which illustrate
the structural properties of GFRP composites and show that, contrary to the
assumption used in the current literature, no delamination occurred in the
samples examined in this work when the energy of impact was lower than 9 J
. Second, a simple ultrasonic approach to assess the maximum spatial extent
of the damaged volume is presented. The evaluation of the damage spatial e
xtent obtained by this method is shown to correlate well with that recovere
d by a direct microscopic investigation. Finally, in view of the findings o
btained by the microstructural analysis, a brief discussion is presented wh
ich reviews the properties a nondestructive method should possess in order
to provide reliable quantitative assessment of impact damage in GFRP compos
ites.