Impact damage processes in composite sheet and sandwich honeycomb materials

The research interest of this study is the impact toughness of different lightweight sandwich panels and composite sheet materials. This is as to the degrees of damage inflicted on the contact surface, through-thickness and rear surface of the materials when subjected to different impacts. For this study, specimens were prepared from sheet moulding compound (SMC), glass mat thermoplastic (GMT) and honeycomb sandwich panels employing different skin and core materials. For all experiments, drop-weight impact facilities were used and for some experiments a servo-hydraulic impact machine was also employed. The reason for this study is that very much needed for the next generation of more advanced aircraft, marine-craft, road and rail vehicles are improved lightweight stiff materials that can absorb higher impact energy and retain a higher degree of structural integrity.