An Experimental Investigation on the Impact Response of Fiberglass/Aluminum Composites

This paper presents experimental investigations on impact response of fiberglassaluminum (FGA) composites. A number of test specimens were subjected to increasing impact energies until complete perforation of the target was achieved. The damage process of fiber-glass aluminum (FGA) composites is examined by comparing the load-deflection curves, energy profile diagram (showing the correlation between impact energy and absorbed energy) and images of damaged specimens. The failure processes in the impact-loaded FGAs were initially investigated by examining the front and rear surfaces of the damaged samples. After initial examination, damage mechanisms at the interior layers were ascertained through destructive analysis, i.e., sectioning and de-plying, of samples. Careful examination of the damaged FGA panels highlighted a number of failure mechanisms such as permanent plastic deformation, tearing and shear fracture in the aluminum layers as well as fiber fracture in glass-epoxy layers, and delamination between adjacent layers, i.e., at composite/composite and composite/metal interfaces. Along with the cross-sections, images of several impacted samples for varied impact energies are provided for discussion.