Impact properties of flexible composites made of nylon/high-resilience non-woven fabric with an inter/intra-ply hybrid structure

This study examines how inter/intra-ply hybrid structures influence the impact load of sandwich-structured flexible composites determined by static or low-velocity impact tests. The flexible composites are composed of nylon/high-resilient non-woven polyester fabrics as the surface sheet and polyurethane foam as the core layer. The polyurethane foam layer has a specified thickness and density, while the surface layers comprise various fiber blending ratios, different blending methods, different lamination procedures and lamination orders. The test results show that the flexible composites have an optimal impact absorption of 1901 N for a static impact when the nylon/high-resilient polyester non-woven fabrics are composed of an inter-ply hybrid structure. In contrast, they have an optimal impact absorption of 8255 N for a low-velocity impact when the nylon/high-resilience polyester non-woven fabrics are composed of an intra-ply hybrid structure.