Energy absorption during low velocity impact of composite laminates

In this paper the results of an experimental investigation, oriented to quantitatively correlate the characteristics of a composite laminate (in terms of thickness and lay-up) and the energy absorbed during an impact event before failure or penetration, are the basis for a new methodology for the analysis of impact data. The definition of two normalised coefficients, the absorption coefficient, defined as Eabsorbed / Epenetration, and the intensity coefficient, Eimpact / Epenetration, allowed us to obtain an empirical master curve suitable to summarise the impact data irrespectively of thickness and lay-up. The new master curve represents a very useful tool for assessing the energy absorption capability of a generic laminate and turned out in very good agreement with a large number of data taken from the open literature.