Effect of Harsh Environmental Conditions on the Impact Response of Carbon Composites with Filled Matrix by Cork Powder

Composites are used in a wide range of engineering applications, as a result, exposure to hostile environments is rather common and its mechanical properties degradation is unavoidable. It is necessary to have a complete understanding of the impact of hostile environments on mechanical performance, namely critical solicitations as low velocity impacts. Therefore, this work intends to analyse the low velocity impact response of a carbon fibre/epoxy composite, and a similar architecture with an epoxy matrix filled with cork, after immersion into different solutions: diesel, H2SO4, HCl, NaOH, distilled water, seawater, and seawater at 60 °C. These solutions significantly affected the impact properties. In this context, the maximum load, maximum displacement, and restored energy behaviour were studied to understand the influence of exposure time. It was possible to conclude that such impact parameters were significantly affected by the solutions, where the exposure time proved to be determinant. The benefits of cork on the perforation threshold were investigated, and this parameter increased when the epoxy matrix was filled with cork. Finally, cork filled epoxy laminates also show less variation in maximum load and recovered energy than carbon/epoxy laminates.