Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Impact Damage Resistance, Response, And Mechanisms Of Laminated Composites Reinforced By Through-Thickness Stitching, Kwek Tan, N. Watanabe, Y. Iwahori

Dr. Kwek-Tze Tan

In this article, the study of impact damage of laminated composites reinforced by through-thickness stitching is investigated and presented in threefold. Specimens stitched with varying stitch density and stitch thread thickness are subjected to low-velocity impact via a drop-weight machine. Impact damage resistance is first studied by examining the extent of delamination area in damaged specimens using ultrasonic C-scan analysis. It is revealed that higher stitch density is more capable of impeding delamination growth by arresting cracks at closer interval and suppressing crack propagation. The use of thicker stitch thread offers slight improvement to damage resistance by marginal reduction in …