Post-Impact Investigation of CFRP Laminated Plate

This paper deals with low-velocity impact and quasi-static indentation tests on carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) laminates that classically used in aeronautical applications. The aim is to carry out post-impact analysis using Vic 3-D digital image correlation to investigate the behaviour of permanent indentation which is an important condition for the damage tolerance justification in composite. Result shows the indentation depth decreased with the time due to relaxation of the specimen until at certain position. The microscopic observations were carried out to understand the phenomenon. Besides that, the post-mortem analyses on the impacted plate were also carried out through microscopic observation to determine the delamination area at each interface which is normally difficult to extract from the C-Scan result. The observations were made at three different sections cut (0°, 90° and 45°). The results of delamination area obtained from both microscopic and C-scan analysis is compared and there are rather satisfying to each other.