Experimental and simulation investigation on BVID and CAI behaviors of CFRP laminates manufactured by RTM technology

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to synthetically investigate the impact damage responses of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and its influence on the compression mechanical responses of CFRP laminates, including damage distribution, residual compressive strength and fracture morphology.

Design/methodology/approach

A progressive damage simulation model is developed to analyze the complicated damage responses of CFRP laminates that are manufactured by resin transfer method (RTM) technology. Based on the ABAQUS/explicit finite element analysis solver, a VUMAT code is proposed to descript the composite materials’ damage behaviors under both impact and compression load. Adopting this proposed model, the primary mechanical indicators of four groups’ 5284RTM/U3160 CFRP laminates with different stacking sequences are predicted. Moreover, impact and compression after impact tests are conducted to verify the accuracy of simulation results.

Findings

Both simulation and experimental results show that the impact damage with low visible detectability can significantly reduce composites’ compressive strength. For all four groups’ composite laminates, the residual strength ratio is around 35% or even lower. The kernel impact damage near the plates’ geometric center promotes the degradation process of local materials and finally leads to the early occurrence of mechanical fracture. In addition, the impact damage projection area is not sensitive to the parameters of stacking sequences, while the residual compression strength is proportional to the number of 0-degree layers within whole laminates.

Originality/value

This study helps to understand the effect of an impact event on CFRP laminates’ compressive bearing capacity and provides a numerical method in simulating the damage responses under both impact and compression load.

Citation

Chen, F., Yao, W. and Jiang, W. (2021), "Experimental and simulation investigation on BVID and CAI behaviors of CFRP laminates manufactured by RTM technology", Engineering Computations, Vol. 38 No. 5, pp. 2252-2273. https://doi.org/10.1108/EC-01-2020-0008