Effect of shape memory alloy on impact damage behavior and residual properties of glass/epoxy laminates under low temperature

This paper aims to identify the effect of shape memory alloy (SMA) on damage behavior and residual properties of composite laminates subjected to low-velocity impact at low temperatures. For these goals, impact tests were performed on the base (glass/epoxy laminates without SMA) and SMA laminates (glass/epoxy laminates with embedded SMA) under temperatures of 293 K, 263 K and 233 K, The resulting impact damage was measured by using a scanning acoustic microscope (SAM). The flexural tests were then carried out to investigate the post impact properties, namely the flexural strength and modulus at the aforementioned temperatures. The impact damage behavior of the base laminates was slightly affected by the temperatures, but the SMA laminates was a little more affected by the temperatures. The flexural modulus is not particularly sensitive to the presence of damage. However, the residual strength is considerably affected by the impact damage regardless of temperature. Also, the strength threshold energy is gradually decreased with a decreasing in temperature and the SMA laminates have a little higher threshold energy than the base laminates. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved