Experimental Investigation of High Velocity Impact on CNT Reinforced Composites Employing Single Stage Gas Gun

Abstract

Composite plays a significant role in the field of aerospace due to its excellent mechanical properties, nevertheless, they are highly susceptible to out-of-plane impact load. Fibre-reinforced composite fails effortlessly under impact load and absorb energy through damage mechanics rather than deformation. The present study investigates the damage behaviour of the CNT reinforced carbon fibre-epoxy composite under high velocity impact using single stage gas gun. Composite plates were fabricated with 0 to 0.6 weight percentage content of CNT as reinforcement using vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding. A series of impact test with various impact energy was carried out on carbon/epoxy composite plate to study the impact performance. From the experimentation it was observed that the 0.3 weight percentage CNT addition provides the optimum impact performance. Damage characterization was performed for various impact velocity based on the micro and macro scale damage area. Knowledge of the damage behaviour of CNT reinforced carbon fibreepoxy composite plate under high velocity impact loads is essential for both the product development and material selection in the aerospace application.