DROP WEIGHT IMPACT ANALYSIS OF GLASS

FIBER REINFORCED COMPOSITE

ABSTRACT
In many industrial structures, including vehicles, aircraft and civil systems, fiber enhanced
materials are commonly used due to their lower weights relative to metal structures. Composite
structures are becoming a proper replacement for current metals, particularly in automotive and
aviation industries. Damage to these impact-prone structures is a critical case study for this
reason. The fiber of glass has low density and modulus of elasticity, but strength is very high. In
different environmental conditions, it is also durable. Glass fiber is also one of the common
materials tested by researchers by combining it with various matrices and reinforcements. The
typical types of damages are mainly caused during production, repair, maintenance, or by
particle crashes during function, and collisions between different structures. In this project, three
different cases are being studied after impacted with different weights under different height. The
glass fiber which will be combined with epoxy resin to increase their impact strength. The
materials will be fabricated using a hand lay-up technique with the aid of a hot-press machine.
The process of preparing the compound will be based on a 2:1 ratio, that is, two portions of
epoxy to one portion of hardener by mass. Herein, drop-weight impact tests of glass fiber
reinforced composite will be conducted in the testing machine to investigate the drop impact
properties. In addition, with the help of ABAQUS simulation analysis will be carried out.

Keywords: Glass fiber epoxy-based composite, Impact, Fabrication, ABAQUS

WORKPLAN

Studying
Research papers

Procurement of raw
materials

Preparation of workspace
for fabrication

Preparing epoxy resin and

hardener.

Fabrication of composite

Impact Testing in machine

Analysis using ABAQUS

Comparing experimental
result with analytical values

Results and discussion