Damage Assessment of Glass-Fibre-Reinforced Plastic Structures under Quasi-Static Indentation with Acoustic Emission
The use of fibre-reinforced plastics (FRPs) in various industrial applications continues to increase thanks to their good strength-to-weight ratio and impact resistance, as well as the high strength that provides engineers with advanced options for the design of modern structures subjected to a vari...
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MDPI AG
2023-07-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/14/5036 |
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| author | Norman Osa-uwagboe Amadi Gabriel Udu Vadim V. Silberschmidt Konstantinos P. Baxevanakis Emrah Demirci |
| author_facet | Norman Osa-uwagboe Amadi Gabriel Udu Vadim V. Silberschmidt Konstantinos P. Baxevanakis Emrah Demirci |
| author_sort | Norman Osa-uwagboe |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The use of fibre-reinforced plastics (FRPs) in various industrial applications continues to increase thanks to their good strength-to-weight ratio and impact resistance, as well as the high strength that provides engineers with advanced options for the design of modern structures subjected to a variety of out-of-plane impacts. An assessment of the damage morphology under such conditions using non-destructive techniques could provide useful data for material design and optimisation. This study investigated the damage mechanism and energy-absorption characteristics of E-glass laminates and sandwich structures with GFRP face sheets with PVC cores under quasi-static indentation with conical, square, and hemispherical indenters. An acoustic emission (AE) technique, coupled with a k-means++ pattern-recognition algorithm, was employed to identify the dominant microscopic and macroscopic damage mechanisms. Additionally, a post-mortem damage assessment was performed with X-ray micro computed tomography and scanning electron microscopy to validate the identified clusters. It was found that the specific energy absorption after impact with the square and hemispherical indenters of the GFRP sandwich and the plain laminate differed significantly, by 19.29% and 43.33%, respectively, while a minimal difference of 3.5% was recorded for the conical indenter. Additionally, the results obtained with the clustering technique applied to the acoustic emission signals detected the main damaged modes, such as matrix cracking, fibre/matrix debonding, delamination, the debonding of face sheets/core, and core failure. The results therefore could provide a methodology for the optimisation and prediction of damage for the health monitoring of composites. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:52:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7d9732e15b674bc49f5ebd960a44ba9d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1944 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:52:56Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Materials |
| spelling | doaj.art-7d9732e15b674bc49f5ebd960a44ba9d2023-11-18T20:17:01ZengMDPI AGMaterials1996-19442023-07-011614503610.3390/ma16145036Damage Assessment of Glass-Fibre-Reinforced Plastic Structures under Quasi-Static Indentation with Acoustic EmissionNorman Osa-uwagboe0Amadi Gabriel Udu1Vadim V. Silberschmidt2Konstantinos P. Baxevanakis3Emrah Demirci4Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical, and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UKAir Force Research and Development Centre, Nigerian Air Force Base, Kaduna 800282, NigeriaWolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical, and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UKWolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical, and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UKWolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical, and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UKThe use of fibre-reinforced plastics (FRPs) in various industrial applications continues to increase thanks to their good strength-to-weight ratio and impact resistance, as well as the high strength that provides engineers with advanced options for the design of modern structures subjected to a variety of out-of-plane impacts. An assessment of the damage morphology under such conditions using non-destructive techniques could provide useful data for material design and optimisation. This study investigated the damage mechanism and energy-absorption characteristics of E-glass laminates and sandwich structures with GFRP face sheets with PVC cores under quasi-static indentation with conical, square, and hemispherical indenters. An acoustic emission (AE) technique, coupled with a k-means++ pattern-recognition algorithm, was employed to identify the dominant microscopic and macroscopic damage mechanisms. Additionally, a post-mortem damage assessment was performed with X-ray micro computed tomography and scanning electron microscopy to validate the identified clusters. It was found that the specific energy absorption after impact with the square and hemispherical indenters of the GFRP sandwich and the plain laminate differed significantly, by 19.29% and 43.33%, respectively, while a minimal difference of 3.5% was recorded for the conical indenter. Additionally, the results obtained with the clustering technique applied to the acoustic emission signals detected the main damaged modes, such as matrix cracking, fibre/matrix debonding, delamination, the debonding of face sheets/core, and core failure. The results therefore could provide a methodology for the optimisation and prediction of damage for the health monitoring of composites.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/14/5036quasi-static indentationfibre-reinforced plasticsacoustic emissiondamageX-ray micro computed tomographyscanning electron microscopy |
| spellingShingle | Norman Osa-uwagboe Amadi Gabriel Udu Vadim V. Silberschmidt Konstantinos P. Baxevanakis Emrah Demirci Damage Assessment of Glass-Fibre-Reinforced Plastic Structures under Quasi-Static Indentation with Acoustic Emission Materials quasi-static indentation fibre-reinforced plastics acoustic emission damage X-ray micro computed tomography scanning electron microscopy |
| title | Damage Assessment of Glass-Fibre-Reinforced Plastic Structures under Quasi-Static Indentation with Acoustic Emission |
| title_full | Damage Assessment of Glass-Fibre-Reinforced Plastic Structures under Quasi-Static Indentation with Acoustic Emission |
| title_fullStr | Damage Assessment of Glass-Fibre-Reinforced Plastic Structures under Quasi-Static Indentation with Acoustic Emission |
| title_full_unstemmed | Damage Assessment of Glass-Fibre-Reinforced Plastic Structures under Quasi-Static Indentation with Acoustic Emission |
| title_short | Damage Assessment of Glass-Fibre-Reinforced Plastic Structures under Quasi-Static Indentation with Acoustic Emission |
| title_sort | damage assessment of glass fibre reinforced plastic structures under quasi static indentation with acoustic emission |
| topic | quasi-static indentation fibre-reinforced plastics acoustic emission damage X-ray micro computed tomography scanning electron microscopy |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/16/14/5036 |
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