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CHAPTER 5

EXPERIMENTAL OF GFRP IMPACT RESISTANCE STUDIES

5.1

Overview

This chapter will explain experimental work on behavior of GFRP due to


drop weight impact event with reference to the ASTM standard D 7136/D
7136M in order to evaluate the drop weight impact damage characteristic
by using GFRP as a material in this investigation.

5.2

Significance and Use

The ability to resist damage from impact forces is one of the major
concerns of material made up of advanced composite. Thus, the
fundamental of damage resistance properties of laminated composite has
been very useful for product selection and development. Drop weight
impact testing can provide following purposes such as establishing the
effects of stacking sequence of orientation on the damage resistance of
particular composite laminate prior to drop weight impact energy.

It also provide the relative values of the damage parameters for composite
with different constituents. The response parameters including damage
zone size and type of damage in the specimen.

5.3

Machine Setup and Preparation

A flat, rectangular composite GFRP composite is subjected to an out-ofplane, concentrated impact by using a drop weight impact machine with a
hemispherical impactor. The potential energy of the drop weight where it is
defined by few parameters such as mass and drop height of the impactor,
is specified prior to test. The damage resistance of the composite is
quantified based on the type damage and resulting size damage in a
particular specimen.
5.3.1 Calibration of Drop Weight Impact Test Rig
The drop weight impact test rig basically consist of 4 main components
including machine frame, guide rail, impactor and base plate. Figure 5.1
shows the drop weight impact test rig.

Machine
Frame
Guide
rail
Impactor

Base Plate

Figure 5.1 Drop-Weight Impact Test Rig.

Firstly, the machine frame is calibrated to reduce the percentage of the


impactor from misleading when penetration of the specimen occur. In
order to achieve that, the angle of the frame was set to be at 90 o at both
side (Figure 5.2). The machine frame also adjusted to be parallel on both
side to avoid any possible error occurred.

Angle
90o

of

Figure 5.2 Machine Frame Calibration.


Secondly, the guide rail is adjusted perpendicularly to machine frame. The
guide rail is calibrated to ensure it does have any contact on any
components along it path which is from upper part of machine from to
base plate. Since the impactor is in contact with the guide rail, grease is
spread along the guide rail in order to reduce energy loss due to friction.
Next, the rope which is attached to the pulley and the impactor is adjusted
so the impactor is perfectly aligned to the specimen. Two small tubes are
placed into the both holes of the impactor which connected to the guide
rail to avoid the contact between the impactor and guide rail during
penetration (Figure 5.3).

Figure 5.3 Impactor calibration by using tube.

Lastly, four toggle clamps were installed at the fixture base of the base
plate. The installation of the toggle clamps should be emphasized because
appropriate amount of pressure must be exerted on the specimen. The

setting of each clamp is depends on the thickness of the sample. In order


to achieve a suitable pressure without damaging the clamp after the
penetration occurred, the clamp is set to be 2 or 3 mm lower than the
thickness of the specimen. This mechanism will ensure the specimen will
remain fixed in its position after the impact event occurred. At the fixture
base, a scale is placed to measure any rebound occurred (Figure 5.4).
There is a rubber placed at the bottom of the base plate where the
function is to absorb shock created during the event.

Scale

Figure 5.4 Scale measurement for rebound event.

5.3.2 Summary of Test Method


Firstly, the specimen is clamped in the impact support fixture base as
shown in Figure 5.5. A 40 mm diameter blunt conical impactor is utilized to
strike the specimen at the centre under low velocity event. Preferred
damage states due to drop weight impact are located at the centre of the

specimen, sufficiently far from the edges of the specimen such that stress
at the edges do not interact during formation damage formation event.
There are specific drop heights set for each stack sequence of ply
orientations. The impactor is pulled until it reached at specific drop height
and then released so the impactor will be in free-fall motion. A speed
camera is set at the side of fixture base to record any rebound occurred
during penetration. The rebound height if any is then recorded. The travel
time of the impactor is recorded by using digital stopwatch. The travel
time is the moment between the impactor is released and just before the
penetration event. As mentioned earlier, any type of damage resistance is
quantified in terms of damage zone size and type of damage in the
specimen. Finally, all the parameters are observed, recorded and
tabulated.

Figure 5.5 Specimen is clamped on the Impact Support Fixture Base from
top view (a) and side view (b).

5.3

Test Result

As the purpose of this experiment is to measuring the damage resistance


of GFRP prior to drop weight impact, the measurement such as the area of
both primary and secondary damage are to be considered. The common
damaged modes from out-of-plane drop weight impact which can be
divided into primary and secondary damage type are also examined.
5.3.1 Deformation Characteristic
Generally, the deformation characteristic can be divide into externally
visible damage type and internal damage type also known as primary and
secondary damage respectively. These damage initiation and growth is
majorly depending on the level of the drop height. The damage
mechanism usually cooperate with each other, with one or both of them
being dominant.
Primary damage usually can be observed in a several type of
damages including dent, cracks or splits at the surface of specimen,
combination of splits and delamination, and more severe damage, fiber
breakage. Secondary damage can be characterized as internal damage
type such delamination and splits or crack with non-destructive inspection
(NDI) indications. Figure 5.6 summarize the deformation characteristic for
both primary and secondary damages.

Figure 5.6 Commonly Observed Damage Modes from Out-of-Plane Drop


Weight Impact

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