Study on impact behavior of glass fiber/PVC curved sandwich structure composites

Abstract Composite materials have the characteristics of light weight, high strength, high modulus, and corrosion resistance. In this article, glass fiber/PVC curved sandwich structure composites with three curvature radiuses (80, 150, and 260 mm) and different sandwich structures were prepared by vacuum assisted resin transfer molding. The specimens were subjected to quasi‐static indentation test and drop hammer impact test. The influence of curvature radius and ply sequence on the impact behavior of composites were analyzed by comparing the load displacement curve, pit depth, and energy loss. The compression after impact of specimens with different curvature radius and structure was carried out to explore the damage limit and toughness of composites. It is found that the maximum tensile properties of sandwich specimens are determined by the degree of resin infiltration into PVC foam panels. The impact performance is mainly attributed to the laying sequences of reinforcement. The instantaneous impact performance of free falling body is greatly affected by the curvature radius, and the post impact compression performance of sandwich composites is increased with increase of the curvature. The research could provide a theoretical basis for the application of combining curved surface and sandwich structure composites.