Damage characterisation of glass/polyester composite plates subjected to low-energy impact fatigue

This work reports and discusses an experimental method for characterising the damage behaviour of glass/polyester laminated composite plates at low-energy impact fatigue. Experimental tests are performed under increasing impact energy and increasing number of impacts conditions. The investigated energies are in the range of 3.5–7 J in order to describe the internal damage behaviour at different levels of incident impact energy. Diagrams are presented to show the effects of impact number, energy level and cumulative impact energy on delamination area evolution, and also on crater dimensions progress (diameter and depth). The delamination behaviour and crater dimension in the laminated specimens depend largely upon the level of incident energy. Well-defined impact fatigue (E−Nf) behaviour, showing an endurance limit at above 104 impact cycles, has been obtained.