Investigating polyethersulfone interleaved glass/carbon hybrid composite under impact and its comparison with GLARE

Fotouhi, S. , Clamp, J., Bolouri, A., Pozegic, T. R. and Fotouhi, M. (2019) Investigating polyethersulfone interleaved glass/carbon hybrid composite under impact and its comparison with GLARE. Composite Structures, 226, 111268. (doi: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2019.111268)

Abstract

A tough polyethersulfone (PES) membrane was utilized as a novel reinforcement to improve impact performance of a carbon/glass hybrid composite. The hybrid composite was made of a glass fibre/epoxy block that was sandwiched between two carbon fibre/epoxy blocks. The PES reinforced hybrid composite was compared with an unmodified hybrid composite and a glass reinforced aluminium (GLARE) laminate. During impact testing, results showed that incorporation of PES led to an increase in toughness with a reduction in damage propagation in the investigated composite panels. Furthermore, the results showed that for low impact energy levels (6 J, 12 J and 18 J), the addition of the PES membrane reduced the area of damage by an average of 67%, compared to the virgin laminate. By increasing the impact energy level (24 J and 32 J), fibre breakage was the dominant failure mode and the PES had a negligible effect on the impact performance. A comparable load bearing performance was observed with the hybrid composites and the GLARE laminate for the low energy levels (6 J, 12 J and 18 J). However, the GLARE laminate had a better performance during high energy impacts (24J and 32 J), due to the high ductility of the aluminium plates.

• Item Type: Articles (Editorial)
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Fotouhi, Dr Sakineh and Fotouhi, Dr Mohammad
• Authors: Fotouhi, S., Clamp, J., Bolouri, A., Pozegic, T. R., and Fotouhi, M.
• Subjects: T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General); T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Autonomous Systems and Connectivity; College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Composite Structures
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 0263-8223
• ISSN (Online): 1879-1085
• Published Online: 27 July 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd.
• First Published: First published in Composite Structures 226: 111268
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy