Residual impact strength of glass/epoxy composite laminates after solid particle erosion

The main goal of this work is to study the effect of solid particle erosion on the impact fatigue life. For this purpose, impingement angles of 10 degrees, 45 degrees and 90 degrees, stand-off distances of 75 mm, 100 mm and 125 mm and particles size of 20 mesh, 24 mesh and 54 mesh were considered. After exposure to corundum particles flow, during 20 seg and constant pressure of 2 bar, the glass/epoxy laminates were evaluated in terms of weight loss and depth of eroded area. Finally, all samples were submitted to multi-impacts until full perforation. From the experimental tests, it can be concluded that weight loss and depth of eroded area increase with the increasing of impingement angle, reaching maximum values for 90 degrees. In terms of distance between nozzle and target, higher values promote larger and shallower damaged areas, while smaller particles are responsible by lower weight loss and depth. Finally, the fatigue life is very sensitive to the erodent size, but the opposite tendency occurs for impingement angle and stand-off distance, alternating according to their values.