LOW VELOCITY IMPACT BEHAVIORS OF BASALT/EPOXY REINFORCED COMPOSITE LAMINATES WITH DIFFERENT FIBER ORIENTATIONS

The current study aims to explore the effects of fiber orientation angle on the low velocity impact behaviors of the basalt fiber reinforced composite laminates. Samples with four different orientation angles (0o/90o, 15o/-75o, 30o/-60o and 45o/- 45o) fabricated by vacuum assisted resin transfer molding have being tested on the Charpy impact test machine. Furthermore, failure modes of notched/unnotched samples subjected to impact loadings in the flatwise and edgewise directions have been examined to detailly understand fracture behavior. The results showed that the fiber orientation angle has substantial effects on the energy absorption capability and impact toughness of the samples. The increment in fiber orientation angle was led to increases in impact energy and toughness, and the reduction in impact damage. The best values as 3.07 J and 34.82 kJ/m 2 for impact energy and impact toughness, respectively, are obtained from the notched samples in edgewise impact loading that having (45o/-45o) fiber orientation angle. Almost all of the samples exhibited failure modes as matrix fragmentation, delamination, fiber cracking and fiber pull-out, respectively. The most destructive results were observed as laminate fracture on the samples having (0o/90o) fiber orientation angle.