Experimental and Numerical Investigation of High Strain Rate Mechanical Behavior of a [0/45/90/-45] Quadriaxial E-Glass/Polyester Composite

Quasi-static (10(-3)-10(-1) s(-1)) and high strain rate (similar to 900 s(-1)) compression behavior of an E-Glass fiber woven fabric reinforced Polyester matrix composites was investigated by using a Shimadzu AG-I testing machine and a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar apparatus in the Dynamic Testing and Modeling Laboratory of Izmir Institute of Technology. During the experiments, a high speed camera was used to determine deformation behavior. In both directions, modulus and failure strength increased with increasing strain rate. Higher strain rate sensitivity for both elastic modulus and failure strength was observed in the in-plane direction. Based upon these experimental data, a numerical model was developed using the commercial explicit finite element code LS-DYNA to investigate compressive deformation and damage behavior of composites. Excellent agreement was demonstrated for the case of high strain rate loading. Also, the fracture geometries were successfully predicted with the numerical model. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of ICM11