A comparison of FRP-sandwich penetrating impact test methods

The main objective of this project is to identify the test methods which provide useful results for the different types of penetrating impacts occurring in sandwich structures. A series of penetrating impact tests on FRP-sandwich panels is performed using three different test methods and the results of the test methods are compared. The test methods used are the standardised method ISO 6603 and two non-standardised methods. The first non-standardised method uses a pyramid-shaped impactor instead of the cylindrical impactor used in the ISO 6603 method. In the second non-standardised method, the impact test is performed quasi-statically using a cylindrical impactor. Possible stages of failure occurring in FRP-sandwich during a penetrating impact are illustrated. A comprehensive test method should be able to provoke various failure modes, as observed in impact failures of actual sandwich structures. The results obtained with the three test methods lead to a different ranking in impact strength of the panels. Hence, impact test results obtained with different test methods are not even qualitatively comparable. The pyramid-shaped impactor is able to generate clearly more failure modes than the cylindrical impactor in the ISO 6603 method. Therefore, it is considered to be of more practical value for determining the impact strength of FRP-sandwich structures.