Numerical assessment of impact behavior in composite laminates interleaved by Nylon6,6 nanofibers

Delamination is one of most common failure mechanisms for composite materials. By interleaving a nanofibrous mat between laminate plies it can be possible to control the interlaminar delamination strength. The nanofibrous mat at a laminate interface is impregnated by the resin during the curing process. Since the studies conducted for considering the behavior of nanomodified laminate under impact loading is very limited, this phenomenon is considered using FEM method. The simulation of impact is conducted by ABAQUS/Explicit and cohesive behavior which is available in this software. For applying cohesive method, three parameters are required which are: K, G, Smax. These parameters can be obtained by conducting mode-I and mode-II fracture tests. Since the results of these tests for modified and reference laminates are available in literature, therefore they are used for finding cohesive parameters. The results prove that interleaving nanofibrous mat between composite layers can decrease the delaminated area 75%.

Keywords:

Finite element method- Impact loading- Composite laminate- Nylon 6 , 6 nanofibers