On strain rate effect and high-velocity impact behavior of carbon fiber reinforced laminated composites.

• Strain rate effects on the tensile and shear strength of carbon fibre composites were investigated. • The strain rate effect of the composite material was considered in VUMAT for simulations. • High-velocity impact responses with different impact velocities and angles were tested and simulated. • Failure behaviours and energy absorption mechanisms were analysed and discussed. In this paper, the tensile and in-plane shear behaviors of carbon fiber reinforced laminated composites (CFRLCs) under high strain rate loading were experimentally investigated. The strain and damage processes of the specimens were obtained using the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) method and a high-velocity camera. Quasi-static test results were used as the control group for obtaining the dynamic correction factors of the material system under high strain rate conditions. In addition, high-velocity impact (HVI) tests with different impact velocities and angles were conducted on CFRLCs. The dynamic correction factors were used in HVI simulations to consider the effect of strain rate. The energy absorption mechanisms and failure modes of laminates under different impact conditions were analyzed using testing and simulated results. It is found that during the HVI, matrix tension and fiber tension failures are the main failure modes. The energy absorbed by the laminate in oblique impact is larger than the one in normal impact. The possible reason is that the increase rate of the damage area with the four failure modes in oblique impact is larger than the one in normal impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]