Investigation of Low‐Velocity Impact and In‐Plane Compression Responses of Crumb Rubber‐Reinforced Kevlar Sandwich Composite: Experimental, Analytical and Numerical Approaches

ABSTRACT Heavier monolithic construction panels pose greater challenges to energy conservation in the automobile, aerospace, and locomotive sectors. A novel lightweight sandwich polymer composite has been proposed to address the issue. The waste tire‐derived crumb rubber (CR) particles were employed for the reinforcement of the core of the Kevlar sandwich epoxy composite in four different composition variations (0, 5, 10, and15 wt.%). A low‐velocity impact analysis was performed experimentally to assess the impact responses. An intense bonding of CR particles with the cover sheet was authenticated by the surface topography of CR. An energy‐balance analytical model was implemented to validate the experimental findings. Further, a third layer of validation was attempted through a finite element numerical approach. The experimental approach to impact response estimation reveals that 87.86% and 17.42% of excess energy absorption and backside deformation are recorded for higher CR content (15 wt.%) variants than the neat sandwich specimen. The analytical and numerical predictions are in close concurrence with the experimental findings. The macroscopic damage assessment result declares the existence of evident delamination followed by matrix cracking for the neat specimen. A 2.48 times higher residual compressive strength with extended straining was observed from the in‐plane compression test after the impact for a higher CR variant (15 wt.%) than the neat one. A failure assessment after the in‐plane compression manifests the remarkable delamination and core failure of the neat sandwich composite.