Experimental Study of Low Velocity Impact Response of Carbon/Basalt Hybrid Filament Wound Composite Pipes

In this study, the impact damage resistance of carbon/basalt hybrid fiber reinforced polymer pipes was experimentally investigated under low velocity impact loading. The composite pipes, composed of thin plastic liner of HDPE wrapped with eight layers of plies at constant winding angle of [+/- 55 degrees /90(2)degrees /+/- 55 degrees/90(2)degrees], were fabricated through filament winding technique. Eight pipe configurations with different stacking sequence and fiber content proportion were studied. Specimens cut from the original pipes were tested in a drop weight impact machine under two levels of impact energies, 50 J and 100 J, in order to predict the impact response and induced damage resistance of the pipe. The damage of the tested pipes was assessed based on the force-displacement, force-time histories, the energy absorption mechanism, as well as the micrographs captured by scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the specimens. The results indicate that the impact resistance behavior was highly affected by the stacking sequence of the layers and partly affected by the fiber content ratio. Positioning the basalt fiber on the impacted side enhances the energy absorption mechanism for both levels of imposed energies, while improving the impact resistance. The addition of 50% basalt fiber can slightly increase the impact resistance compared to the addition of 25% basalt fiber. However, specimens with 25% basalt fiber showed lower peak force, lower damage area and lower energy absorption.