Internal damage investigation of the impacted glass/glass+aramid fiber reinforced composites by micro-computerized tomography

This paper utilizes the micro-computerized tomography as the non-destructive inspection technique to characterize and compare damage modes of glass and glass+aramid fiber reinforced polyester laminated composites. Main goal of this study is to visualize the internal impact damage variation due to reinforcement type by using micro-computerized tomography scanning. Impact tests were performed on glass fiber reinforced and glass fiber+aramid fiber reinforced polyester composites at the same conditions and both composites were tested at 80 J energy. After low velocity impact tests, micro-computerized tomography scans of both composites were taken from SkyScan 1173 system.

► Micro-CT was used in order to characterize the internal damages of impacted composites.
► Micro-CT analysis reveal the internal damages such as delamination, fiber breakage etc.
► Micro-CT is a novel method in order to understand composite behaviors under impact loadings.