The Impact of Composite Laminates: Modelling the Effect of a Round-nosed versus a Flat-ended Impactor at High Impact Energies

The Impact of Composite Laminates: Modelling the Effect of a Round-nosed versus a Flat-ended Impactor at High Impact Energies | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The Impact of Composite Laminates: Modelling the Effect of a Round-nosed versus a Flat-ended Impactor at High Impact Energies Yuzhe Ding, Michael S. Johnson, Jun Liu, James Dear, Jiaqi Li, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5402492/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 28 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Applied Composite Materials → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The present study investigates the effect of the impactor geometry on the impact performance, at relatively high impact energies, of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates with a cross-ply configuration of [0 2 /90 2 ], which were manufactured using unidirectional (UD) carbon-fibre epoxy-matrix plies. Drop-weight impact tests were performed using both round-nosed and flat-ended rigid impactors. White light interferometry (WLI), ultrasonic C-scan and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed to assess the relationship between the indentation profile, the delamination footprint and the fracture morphology along the fracture plane. This study focusses on the coupling between the extent of indentation, the loading responses and the associated damage caused in the CFRP. This damage involved both intralaminar damage, including matrix cracking and fibre-kinking and fracture, and interlaminar, i.e. delamination, damage. A major finding was that the flat-ended impactor only caused significant damage to the CFRP panel at the relatively high impact energy of 25 J. At these high impact energies, a compressive kink-band fracture plane occurred around the periphery of the flat-ended impactor near the front surface of the laminate. A previously published numerical model has been extended to account for these experimental observations. CFRP laminates impact tests impactor geometry modelling studies Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 28 Feb, 2025 Read the published version in Applied Composite Materials → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 12 Jan, 2025 Reviews received at journal 12 Jan, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 28 Dec, 2024 Reviews received at journal 26 Nov, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Nov, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 11 Nov, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 11 Nov, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 11 Nov, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 11 Nov, 2024 First submitted to journal 06 Nov, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5402492","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":383139486,"identity":"26a06fb5-318a-4938-a0ff-0167b973223f","order_by":0,"name":"Yuzhe Ding","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Imperial College London","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yuzhe","middleName":"","lastName":"Ding","suffix":""},{"id":383139487,"identity":"1c896054-937a-4171-9d4a-cbea5fceb577","order_by":1,"name":"Michael S. 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