Hope College Department of Physics and Engineering
Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Summer 2006
Project Summary

 

Project Title:

Assessing Impact Damage in FRP Composites

Student Name:

Robyn Anderson

Student's Home Institution: Hope College
Research Advisor: Dr. Jeff Brown
Source of Support: This program/research was supported in part by a grant to Hope College from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through the Undergraduate Science Education Program.

As fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites generate interest as an aircraft construction material, methods to assess damage from sources such as hail become essential. The objective of this research is to determine if infrared thermography can be used to detect and quantify the severity of impact damage inflicted on FRP composites. Square glass-fiber composite samples were constructed, clamped around the edges, and subjected to dynamic impacts. After obtaining a sample with delamination damage that was not visible on its surface, holes of various depths were milled into the sample, and thermal images of the composite were collected. The impact damage was not visible in the thermal images when compared to the milled areas. However, many variations in the composite construction and process of impact infliction influence the damage in the composite, and further testing is planned to determine the conditions in which infrared thermography can be reliably used for nondestructive evaluation of fiber-reinforced polymer composites.

*This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF-REU Grant No. 0452206