Objectives The addition of thermoplastic phase materials between the layers of traditional marine composite laminates can effectively improve the impact resistance properties of marine composites. This study carries out experiments to explore the impact damage characteristics of such materials.
Methods The thermoplastic/thermoset interface of laminates is observed with an optical microscope, and the bonding mode of the two-phase materials is analyzed. Composite laminates with different structures are impacted at low velocity with three different energies. The damage morphology of each specimen is observed via ultrasonic C-scan and electron microscopy to obtain the impact response and damage mechanism of each specimen.
Results The results show that marine composite laminates embedded with PEI film have better damage resistance than carbon fiber laminates. Under 8 J and 12 J of impact energy , the delamination damage is reduced by 19% and 39% respectively, and they showed better integrity after 12 J impact.
Conclusions Embedding PEI thermoplastic film inside laminates can improve their toughness and significantly reduce internal delamination damage. Compared with carbon fiber laminates and double-sided coated laminates, PEI thermoplastic film can significantly improve the impact resistance of internal film embedded laminates.
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