Abstract

With thin structures used in the aircrafts, aeronautical manufacturers are worried about the response of these thin laminates towards impact and post impact loads. Thin laminates studied to show reduced compression after impact strengths with thin plies and hence continues to be a primary concern to the aeronautical industries. In this work, we aim to use ply grade hybridization (mixing different ply grades) and unsymmetrical laminate designs as an effort to improve the low velocity impact response and compression after impact strength of thin laminates. Using different materials, uni-directional and non-crimp fabrics, through experimental, numerical and optimization methods, we demonstrate that hybridization along with unsymmetrical designs can improve the CAI strength by upto 40% over the thin ply baseline laminates.