Analysis of the extreme temperature's effect on the low-velocity impact behaviour and damage evolution in sandwich components

Literature reports several works concerning the impact response of composites reinforced with woven fibers and the mechanisms involved in impact energy dissipation. However, even if composites' structures are subjected to various environmental conditions during their service life, few papers are concerned about the impact behaviour at shallow temperatures. Very few discuss sandwich components. In this paper, sandwich composites' low-velocity impact behaviour constructed from carbon fibre reinforced face sheets surrounding a polyvinyl chloride core has been tested. Impact tests at penetration and indentation (U=5,7.5,12,10 and 15J) at room temperature and -55°C, +70 °C were carried out. After each impact test, indentation depth and ultrasound analysis measurements have been implemented to learn the damage modes of the tested samples. The results provided a useful indication on the extreme temperature's influence on both impact properties and damage evolution.