OPTIMAL LAYUP SCHEMES WITH SELECTIVE DISPERSION OF CORE/SHELL MICROPARTICLES IN PLY INTERFACES OF GLASS/EPOXY COMPOSITE LAMINATES FOR LOW VELOCITY IMPACT

The overall objective of the investigation presented in this paper was to study the effect of selective dispersion core/shell microparticles (CSP) within the different ply interfaces on impact damage behaviour of glass/epoxy laminates. These laminates were fabricated with the 30 g/m2 CSP particle areal weight per interface. A series of impact experiments were done with instrumental drop tower device at impact energy of 7.8 J and impactor velocity of 2.4 m/s, which is within a practical low velocity impact range. The analysis of the impact load, contact duration indicates that the presence of CSP particles in the bottom layers has a more pronounced effect on the impact performance improvement as compared to the top layers. In the case of selective dispersion, the presence of particles in the middle plies slightly degrades the performance when compared to the selective dispersion of particles only in top or bottom plies.