Low velocity impact response of sandwich composites with hybrid glass/natural fiber face-sheet and PET foam core

The focus of this study is manufacture of sandwich composites using palm and jute natural fibers with E-glass due to their high specific advantages such as lightweight, thermal insulation strength, biodegradability characteristics. The sandwich composites using in this study were fabricated using vacuum assisted resin infusion molding (VARIM) technique. The palm, jute and E-glass fibers were used as reinforcing materials, and PET foam core having a thickness of 10 mm was used as a core material. All specimens were then subjected to low velocity impact tests under various impact energy levels of 20 J, 30 J, 40 J, 50 J, and 60 J at room temperature. Force-time and force-deflection diagrams, maximum contact forces, contact times, and deflections corresponding to the peak forces, and absorbed energies of sandwich composites were obtained for each impact energy level in detail. Damages of sandwich composites are shown for selected energies. According to the obtained results, it was found out that the sandwich composite fabricated with palm fiber has a superior impact behavior in terms of maximum contact force compared to other configurations of sandwich composite (i.e., neat E-glass and jute reinforced E-glass)