Low-velocity impact failure mechanism analysis of 3-D braided composites with Hilbert–Huang transform

This paper aimed to reveal the low-velocity impact responses characteristics and failure mechanism of 3-D braided composites with experimental and frequency domain analysis method, respectively. The low-velocity impact tests were carried out by Instron® 9250 drop-weight instrument with five different impact velocities from 1 m/s to 6 m/s. The results showed that the peak load and absorbed energy increased with the increase of impact velocity. The load–time curves which were in time domain were transformed into frequency domain with Hilbert–Huang Transform (HHT) method. Combined the failure morphologies of 3-D braided composites with frequency domain analysis results, it could be precisely found out the failure mechanism of 3-D braided composites. At the impact velocity of 1 m/s, the 3-D braided composites only had elastic deformations. With the increase of impact velocity, resin crack was the main failure mode of 3-D braided composites. The frequency of impact stress waves which caused the elastic deformation and resin crack mainly located at 0–10 kHz and 60 kHz. When the impact velocity increased to 6 m/s, fiber tows breakage was the main failure mode, and the frequency of impact stress wave located at 15–20 kHz.