Influence of temperature on the impact behavior and damage tolerance of hybrid woven-ply thermoplastic laminates for aeronautical applications

Impact damage tolerance of hybrid carbon and glass fibers woven-ply reinforced PolyEther Ether Ketone (PEEK) thermoplastic (TP) laminates obtained by consolidation process is investigated. Service temperature being one of the most important parameters to screen TP or thermosetting matrix for aeronautical purposes, impact testing at room temperature (RT) and near the glass transition temperature (Tg) has been conducted. From the results, it turns out that temperature has little influence on the impact behavior in terms of maximum force developed or maximum deflection, though it reduces the dissipated energy especially at lower impact energy. However, temperature has a strong effect on the internal and external damages caused to the plate, as it increases the permanent indentation and it limits the projected delaminated area. As for the influence of temperature on the compressive residual strength of the laminates, it also appears that the classical experimental set-up for CAI tests is not completely appropriate to draw a clear cut conclusion. At last the obtained results show that the considered TP-based laminates are characterized by a very good impact behavior and a high-degree of damage tolerance.