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A New Possibility in
Design of Composite Materials for
Improved Impact Properties

Seminar by

RANJITH K

1.Introduction
Composites have been widely used in applications where there is a
risk of impact, due to the excellent properties these materials display
for absorbing impact energy.
However, composites during impact situations typically generate an
enormous number of small pieces, due to the energy absorption
mechanism of these materials.
This can prove dangerous, as the small fragments of the original
structure may cause damage to other vital components near to it and
may even result in harm to human life.

This study was designed to explore the possibility of incorporating a

material which, while maintaining a high level of energy absorption
without any plastic deformation, was able to maintain its original
form, or at least significantly reduce the number of pieces generated
after impact.
The addition of a polyamide layer, NOMEX, to a monolithic carbon
fibre fabric laminate was investigated.
NOMEX has been investigated for use in the aerospace industry as a
core for sandwich composite structures in the form of a honeycomb
structure.
In the current study NOMEX is placed in the laminate, like any other
composite layer, but with the particularity that it is not preimpregnated.

2. Description and Manufacturing of the material

Woven fabric carbon/epoxy pre-impregnated ply: Hexply W3T-28242- F593-14, with a density of 1442 kg/m3
Polyamide: NOMEX Comfort E502 220i, with a density of 608
kg/m3 and a thickness of 0.34 mm
To obtain the test samples, several panels were manufactured, some
containing just woven fabric and others using both woven fabric and
NOMEX.
In all cases, the stacking sequence was symmetrical and the
NOMEX layer was placed on the plane of symmetry.
After curing, the panels were cut and inspected with ultrasounds to
check that there was no presence of porosity in them.

NOMEX (Honey comb)

Woven carbon fibre fabric

Fig.1. Micrograph of the composite with NOMEX (the different layers are detailed).

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3. Testing and Results

The following tests have been carried out on samples of carbon

fibre woven fabric pre-preg, both with NOMEX and without
NOMEX.
Test

Number of Samples Used

Tensile test

Interlaminar fracture toughness energy test

Impact test

Compression after impact test

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3.1. Tensile Test

The tensile test was carried out to calculate the ultimate strength of
the material.
The tests were carried out using an Instron 4482 universal testing
machine, at a speed of 1 mm/min.
They were completed following the standard UNE-EN 2561, which
specifies that the samples must have the following size: 250 mm
(length), 15 mm (width) and 1 mm (thickness).
The mean, the maximum and the minimum values of the strength
reached in the 5 samples are shown, plus the standard deviation
(STD) and the covariance (CV).

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Tensile strength with respect to fabric area (tensile strength with
respect to total area)
Fabric + NOMEX

Material
Stacking
sequence

Fabric
[0]4

[(0)2/NOMEX/(0)2]

Mean [MPa]

328.90

315.53 (264.2)

337.10

342.09 (286.5)

325.60

292.27 (244.7)

13.40

23.54 (19.7)

Maximum
[MPa]
Minimum
[MPa]
STD [MPa]
CV [%]

4.11

7.46

Table 1: Results of the tensile strength test.

Fig.2. Tensile test

specimen results without
(a) and with (b)
NOMEX.

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3.2. Interlaminar Fracture Toughness Energy Test

In this test, the adherence of the NOMEX to the laminate was

checked, measuring the interlaminar fracture toughness energy (GIC).
The objective of the test is to measure the energy needed to propagate
a crack throughout the laminate.
These tests were carried out following the standard AITM 1.0005,
which specifies that the samples must have the following size: 250
mm (length), 25 mm (width) and 3 mm (thickness).
The crack length to calculate the energy, as stated in the specification,
is 100 mm.

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Interlaminar fracture toughness energy

Fabric + NOMEX

Material
Stacking
sequence

Fabric
[0]6s

[(0)6/NOMEX/(0)6]

Mean [J/m2]

322.40

630.00

348.96

638.04

283.48

623.77

STD [J/m2]

34.49

7.30

CV [%]

10.69

1.16

Maximum
[J/m2]
Minimum
[J/m2]

Table 2: Results of the interlaminar fracture toughness energy test.

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3.3. Impact Test

In the test, a mass with a semi spherical tip falls from a certain height
onto the laminate.
The parameters measured are the perforation depth (i.e., indentation)
and the delaminated area.
These tests were carried out in a drop tower following the standard
ASTM D7136, which specifies that the samples must have the
following size: 150 mm (length), 100 mm (width).
The weight of the impactor was 4.47 kg. ASTM D7136 specifies a
value of 5.50 kg for the impactor, but allows the use of other values,
the test in this case being designated as a non-standard test.

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The height chosen was 76.50 cm.

Before the impact, four points are marked at a distance of 20 mm
from the centre of the zone that is to be impacted.
After the impact, four points are measured with a depth gauge (D 1, D2,
D3 and D4).
The indentation is the result of the following equation:
id = Dmax (D1 + D2 + D3 + D4) / 4
After the test, the samples were inspected manually using ultrasonic
techniques to measure the area of the laminate where the damage
appears.

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Indentation after impact with respect to the total thickness

Fabric + NOMEX

Material

Fabric

Stacking sequence

[(45/0)5/(0/45)5]

[(45/0)5/NOMEX/(0/45)5]

Mean [%]

86.56

36.69

Maximum [%]

100.00

39.91

Minimum [%]

58.88

30.91

STD [%]

20.35

3.96

CV [%]

23.51

9.65

Table 3: Results of the impact test.

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Delaminated area after impact

Material
Stacking
sequence

Fabric

Fabric + NOMEX

[(45/0)5/(0/45)5]

[(45/0)5/NOMEX/(0/45)5]

Mean [mm2]

4776.20

8159.10

Maximum [mm2]

5760.08

10681.10

Minimum [mm2]

3616.22

6125.92

STD [mm2]

953.52

1918.40

CV [%]

19.96

23.51

Table 4: Results of the delamination after impact test.

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3.4. Compression After Impact Test

This test is used to calculate the residual strength of the laminate
under compression after having applied the impact test to it.
The load is applied perpendicular to the thickness of the sample,
producing a uni-axial compression.
Standard used is ASTM D7136.

Fig. 3:
Front and rear view of a
specimen with NOMEX
after the CAI test.

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Compression strength after impact with respect to fabric area (compression

strength after impact with respect to total area)
Fabric + NOMEX

Material

Fabric

Stacking sequence

[(45/0)5/(0/45)5]

[(45/0)5/NOMEX/(0/45)5]

Mean [MPa]

135.60

180.92(173.8)

Maximum [MPa]

146.20

187.06(179.7)

Minimum [MPa]

125.40

175.67(170.1)

STD [MPa]

8.00

5.41(5.2)

CV [%]

5.92

2.99

Table 5: Results of the compression strength after impact test.

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4. Analysis of Results

4.1. Tensile Test

From the tensile test it can be clearly seen that NOMEX does not
play any role from a mechanical resistance point of view.
NOMEX's lack of contribution to the strength of the total laminate,
in spite of having one third of the strength of the fabric, is due to the
different stress strain relation of fabric and NOMEX.

Fig. 4: Schematic comparison

between the ultimate
strength/strain values for the
carbon fabric and the
NOMEX.

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4.2. Interlaminar Fracture Toughness Energy Test

It can be observed that the energy associated with the samples that
contain NOMEX is higher than those samples without NOMEX.
These results confirm the satisfactory adherence of the NOMEX
with the prepreg, the value of GIC for the laminate with NOMEX
being almost twice as high as in the case of the monolithic fabric.

Fig. 5: load/displacement
curves for the GIC test in
specimens without
NOMEX (a) and with
NOMEX (b).

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4.3. Impact Test

For the samples without NOMEX, the delaminated area is small

(4776.23 mm2) and located close to the impactor, but the indentation
is very big (86.56%).
In three samples the impactor penetrated the laminate completely
spreading the material fragments.
In the case of the samples with NOMEX, the delaminated area is
bigger (8159.17 mm2), but the damage is only inside the samples (the
indentation is 36.69%).
The damage has been absorbed and distributed by the NOMEX
which prevents the spread of material fragments.

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Fig. 6: Front and rear (impacted face) view of two impacted samples, one
without NOMEX (a) and the other with NOMEX (b).

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4.4. Compression After Impact Test

The ultimate compression strength in the case of the samples with

NOMEX (180.92 MPa) is more than 30% higher than in the case of
the samples without NOMEX (135.60 MPa).
The dispersion of the test results is very low in both cases (2.99% and
5.92% respectively).
Thus, including NOMEX in the laminate reduces the effect of the
impact on its strength, and as a consequence improves the behaviour
of the part under subsequent loads.

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5. Conclusions
The results of the tests have shown that, by adding a layer of
NOMEX to a composite laminate:
The ultimate tensile strength is not affected.
The interlaminar fracture toughness energy is enormously increased,
achieving a stable propagation of the cracks as well.
When subjected to an impact there is almost no fragmentation of the
material and the damage produced by the impactor is reduced.
The strength of the material under compression after an impact is
increased, as NOMEX layer redistributes the impact energy inside
the laminate.

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The damage produced by the impact on the carbon fibre layers was
lower than in the case without NOMEX
Thus, the laminate can provide more capacity to resist a higher load
during the compression after impact test.
In summary, the results show that after low energy impacts the
addition of NOMEX to a composite laminate benefits the overall
behaviour of the material.
These results open up the possibility of extending these tests to
materials and parts used commonly in the aeronautical, aerospace and
automobile industries.

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6. References

1. Foo CC, Chai GB, Seah LK, Mechanical properties of Nomex

material and Nomex honeycomb structure- 2007.
2. Castanie B, Bouveta C, Aminandab Y, Barrauc JJ, Thevenetd P,
Modelling of Low-energy/low-velocity impact on Nomex
honeycomb sandwich structures with metallic skins- 2008.
3. Product data HexPly F593. Resin system for advanced composites.
http://www.hexcel.com/Resources/DataSheets/Prepreg-Data
Sheets/F593.pdf
4.Jess Justo, Sergio Osuna , Federico Pars, Design of composite
materials with improved impact properties- 2015.

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Thank You