An effect of hygrothermal effects on high velocity impact event for polymer matrix composites.

• Hygrothermal coupling conduction model is adopted. • Time-varying hygrothermal dynamic damage constitutive is established. • High velocity impact performance of CFRP sheet is analyzed. The different loading conditions often occur in polymer matrix composites during their service life. In order to use effectively the materials in high-performance applications, analyzing the effect of hygrothermal effects on a ballistic impact event is necessary. This paper considers a heat sink and humidity sink for the hygrothermal diffusion in the composites and solves the Luikov equations by means of the differential quadrature method (DQM). Then, failure and partial failure of a projectile with high velocity into the composites are studied based on the conservation of energy. Further, as hygrothermal deformation reaches equilibrium, the effect of hygrothermal effects on the ballistic impact event is studied. Finally, based on carbon fiber reinforced composite (CFRP), the effects of the hygrothermal diffusion are discussed on the ballistic impact event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]