Impact Behavior of Hybrid Composite Plates

This experimental study deals with the impact response of hybrid composite laminates. Two different hybrid composite laminates, aramid/glass and aramid/carbon, and two different stacking sequences, such as [0/0/90/90](A)+ [90/90/0/0](G) for AG1 and [0/90/+/-45](A)+ [+/-45/90/0](G) for AG2 and so on (see Table I), were chosen for impact testing. The impact energy was gradually increased until complete perforation took place, and an energy profiling method (EPM) was used to identify the perforation thresholds of composites. The damaged samples were visually inspected. The images of the several samples subjected to various impact energies were registered and used for comparison and identifying damage mechanisms. The perforation thresholds for [0/90/ +/-45](s) aramid/glass and aramid/carbon laminates were found to be approximately 5% higher than those for their counterparts with the [0/0/90/90] s stacking sequence. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 118: 580-587, 2010