On the impact damage characteristics of spread-tow woven composites: From high velocity to hyper velocity

Spread-tow woven composites are known to be economically efficient with great potential for use in aerospace applications where components will inevitably suffer various impact threats during their service. In this work, the impact damage behavior of woven composite panels under a wide range of velocities (from about 0.2 km/s to 1.5 km/s) are experimentally and numerically investigated. The damage distribution, ballistic failure mode, and delamination areas are examined in detail. A systematic series of verification studies at a variety of projectile velocity scales—ranging from damage distributions to simulations of the evolution of delamination—were performed to fully evaluate the capabilities of the impact model. The model predictions show good agreement with the experimental results: the delamination zone as determined by ultrasonic C-scan images and the damage behavior of the spread tow woven composite under a wide range of impact velocities were accurately predicted. At high and hyper velocities, the asymmetrical patterns of damage in the panels are similar. The predictions of damage evolution indicate that the larger delamination area results from the large deformation of the rear side of the panel, reducing the bending stiffness of the woven composite and allowing extensive local delamination that is not visible. These results can provide a useful reference for obtaining the dynamic response of a carbon fiber–reinforced polymer woven composite and can aid in the design of composite panels with appropriate impact resistance properties.