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Crashworthiness of GFRP/aluminum hybrid square tubes under quasi-static compression and single/repeated impact

  • Liangliang Zhang , Chaojiang Li , Yilong Chen , Yida Chen , Zhihao Su , Ye Wu , Qiulan Wu and Yun Wan EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: December 31, 2024
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e-Polymers
From the journal e-Polymers Volume 24 Issue 1

Abstract

Thin-walled structures comprised of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites and metal excel in achieving a balanced design in terms of material cost, weight savings, and mechanical performance. This study aims to explore the crushing characteristics and failure mechanism of square hollow aluminum tubes wrapped with glass FRP (GFRP) fabricated by vacuum-assisted resin infusion with six types of lay-up directions. Axial quasi-static compression and single/repeated low-velocity impact (LVI) are conducted to investigate their failure evolution and energy absorption properties, such as the specific energy absorption (SEA), mean crushing force (MCF), peak crushing force (PCF), and crushing force efficiency (CFE). The synergy among oblique, axial, and circumferential GFRP ply, which enhances strength and reduces out-of-plane deformation in the structure, is maximized by using the antisymmetric angle ply rather than the single angle ply. Under these three loading modes, the cases with a [0°/90°]2 lay-up have excellent crashworthiness indicators, including PCF, SEA, and MCF. Meanwhile, compared with the pure aluminum tube, both the SEA and CFE are improved simultaneously by up to 158% and 121% during the single LVI test. The study focuses on the influence of stacking configurations on crashworthiness and further explores the potential and application of such hybrid structures.

Keywords: hybrid structure; energy absorption; axial quasi-static compression; single/repeated low-velocity impact; lay-up sequence

1 Introduction

Glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites, owing to their lightweight, high specific strength, and energy absorption (EA) properties, have been widely used in numerous fields such as aerospace, automobiles, transportation, and nautical engineering as energy-absorbing materials (1,2,3,4). However, GFRP materials have the disadvantages of complex failure modes when impact loading occurs, which is prone to brittle fracture, leading to unstable EA performance (5,6,7,8). Meanwhile, thin-walled metal tubes have the advantage of progressive collapse behavior and stable and energy-absorbing folding mechanisms, but heavy self-weight is a fatal deficiency (9,10). Thus, a proposal has been put forward to use a combination of traditional metal thin-walled structures and glass fiber composite materials to prevent the catastrophic failure mode (11,12,13,14). In such a hybrid material system, each constituent phase gives full play to its own advantages, contributing to the overall performance in a synergetic way. A study found that the hybrid tube H-I absorbs the same energy but costs 32.1% less than the pure carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) tube and weighs 33.6% less than the pure aluminum tube.

The crash box is one of the potential applications of metal/composite hybrid structures to meet increasing novel lightweight and crashworthiness requirements in the automobile industry. Therefore, this hybrid concept has greatly inspired the research community to develop new metal/fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) hybrid structures for energy-absorbing applications for many years (15,16,17,18). The dominant criterion for the deformation mode has been identified, and specific energy absorption (SEA) and mean crushing force (MCF) values, the indicators to evaluate EA, are established. Furthermore, the required structural properties can be obtained by designable parameters such as the material type, thickness, and fiber direction (19,20,21). Massive efforts have been made to study the energy-absorption characteristics of metal/composite hybrid tubes with the lay-up sequence by researchers (22,23,24,25). Nevertheless, they focused on hybrid specimens reinforced by a single angle-ply sequence. Shin et al. (26) investigated the EA capability of aluminum square tubes wrapped with GFRP. Hybrid tubes, under axial crushing and bending collapsing loads, were experimentally investigated and compared with those calculated using modified theoretical models, showing that the hybrid tube with a 90-ply orientation composite tube showed the best EA capability among all kinds of hybrid tubes. El-Hage et al. (27) investigated crashworthiness characteristics by considering the single fiber orientation angles of 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90°, and they found that the energy absorption properties were heightened when the fiber orientation angle in the overwrap was increased. However, they did not use hybrid tubes with a combination of various fiber orientations to study the crashworthiness.

In general, substantial experimental studies in the performance of either the quasi-static loading or impact load behavior have been carried out over the years (28,29,30,31). Bambach (32) compared the axial capacity and crushing behavior of several different square metal/CFRP columns under axial loading conditions. It has been demonstrated that the outer CFRP composite layers can considerably improve crashworthiness, thereby providing a novel structural configuration with enhanced energy-absorbing efficiency. Shen et al. (33) prepared aluminum/CFRP hybrid tubes with different numbers of woven CFRP layers using the vacuum-assisted resin infusion (VARI) method and clearly observed an increase in the number of collapsed lobes and deformation process under quasi-static test.

The VARI process is one of the mature technologies for manufacturing high-performance composites (34,35). On the one hand, the VARI process is employed for one-step infiltration molding of hybrid structures with pipe cores and reinforced fibers, which shows design flexibility and operation convenience. The main advantages of the VARI process compared with compression molding are the various shapes without a special mold and the lack of high-temperature and -pressure requirements (36). However, the optimal lay-up sequence of hybrid structures by VARI forming and its failure mechanism are still unclear. Thus, it is necessary to get the hybrid tubes with better crashworthiness and investigate thoroughly the specific failure behavior.

A low-velocity impact (LVI) event occurs frequently in our daily activities. Many scholars mainly focus on the single impact behavior of metal/FRP hybrid structures under axial impact (37,38,39). However, with metal/FRP hybrid tubes as an energy-absorbing structure in the automobile field, a traffic accident is often accompanied by an inevitable second or even multiple collisions. Thus, it is of great theoretical value and practical significance to study the behavior of metal/GFRP hybrid structures under repeated axial impact. Luo et al. (40) conducted research on the characteristics of GFRP composite tubes through axial dynamic impact and gradual failure simulation. They found that the initial strength of GRFP circular tubes is high, and thicker GFRP tubes also possess a progressive failure mode, demonstrating good EA capabilities. Akatay et al. (41) studied the LVI behavior of repeatedly impacted honeycomb sandwich structures. They found that the compressive strength decreased steadily in single impact. What is different from this is that there is a tremendous reduction in compressive strength in repeat impact. It can be seen that single impact and repeat impact have completely different effects on material properties. To evaluate the effect of repeated impacts on the post-impact residual behavior, Liu et al. (42) conducted five repeated impacts with the same impact energy and crushing tests. During the first impact, the CFRP tubes showed the highest SEA. In the subsequent four impacts, the tubes showed similar SEA values. In short, previous research has focused on single dynamic or static experiments, but there is a correlation between them in evaluating the performance of hybrid tubes. Further, the potential application value is the analysis in conjunction with the axial quasi-static compressive test and repeated LVI tests.

Herein, based on the axial quasi-static compression as well as single and repeated LVI tests, the failure mechanism and damage evolution of Al/GFRP hybrid structures were analyzed with the help of high-speed images, crashworthiness indicators, and response histories. In particular, the optimal stacking configuration and correlation law between dynamic and static behavior are determined by comparing and studying the material characteristics of single and antisymmetric angle-ply hybrid tubes.

2 Materials and methods

2.1 Materials

Figure 1(a) illustrates the hybrid square tube’s schematic diagram structure. After polishing with sandpaper and cleanout with acetone, all aluminum tubes with the 1 mm thickness and 200 mm length wall, Al6061, were prepared and then wrapped on the four layers of glass fiber, with a total thickness of 1.12 mm, an areal density of 450 g·m−2, 0.34 mm per layer, and a tensile strength of 73 MPa, on their outside surfaces via the VARI process. The manufacturing process details are shown in Figure 1(b) and (c). First, the ends of the hollow aluminum tube are sealed with clear adhesive to prevent the resin from flowing out in the middle. Next, the cut 4-layer glass fiber cloth is rolled onto the tube according to the preset laying structure sequence. Then, the release cloth and flow net are rolled onto the mixed tube in order and, finally, covered with a vacuum bag. By using a vacuum pump at one end to extract air, a vacuum environment is formed, and then atmospheric pressure is used to inject resin into the mixed tube through the flow tube. After that, it can be demolded after curing at room temperature for 6 h. Due to excellent liquidity, vinyl ester resin, with a tensile modulus of 3.1 GPa and an elongation of 3.6%, can be cured at room temperature in 24 h using a hardening agent (methyl ethyl ketone peroxide) and an accelerating agent (dimethylaniline) at rates of 0.1% and 1%. The hybrid tubes were cut into specimens with a length of 80 mm by a metal cutting machine. The lay-up orientation θ is marked as the angle between the fiber direction and the axial direction of the tube. Hybrid square tubes with four types of fiber directions of 0°, ±45°, and 90° were employed to investigate the effects of ply orientations. It is worth mentioning that there is a 10 mm overlap at the end of the layers to avoid premature failure.

Figure 1 (a) Geometry and (b) method of stacking. (c) VARI process.
Figure 1

(a) Geometry and (b) method of stacking. (c) VARI process.

2.2 Quasi-static tests and single and repeated LVI tests

To explore hybrid square tubes of deformation modes, energy absorption characteristics, and force–displacement curves, we conducted axial quasi-static crushing tests at a loading speed of 4 mm·min−1 on both the pure aluminum tube and hybrid structure using a universal testing machine, MTS Landmark370. As shown in Figure 2(a), during the testing process, a high-speed video camera was employed to record the failure evaluation. Moreover, all compressive testing stopped at a 50 mm displacement of the loading beam. Each configuration was tested at least three times.

Figure 2 The experimental setup of (a) quasi-static compression, (b) LVI tests, (c) specimen placement, and (d) the 3D model of the fixture.
Figure 2

The experimental setup of (a) quasi-static compression, (b) LVI tests, (c) specimen placement, and (d) the 3D model of the fixture.

In order to compare the performance of the bare aluminum tube and hybrid square hollow structure with various lay-up sequences on single and repeated LVI tests, an appropriate and constant incident energy of 110 J, impact mass of 13.03 kg, and impact speed of 4.11 m·s−1 are selected. An Instron 9340 drop-weight device with an anti-rebound device that meets ASTM D7136 is employed to carry out the LVI tests. As shown in Figure 2(b), a cylindrical steel plate hammer, with a diameter of 50 mm and a mass of 253 g, was used as the punch head, which has a larger cross-section than the tube specimen. In addition to the force and displacement history recorded by the drop weight device, the whole process of impact and collapse was captured with 800 × 600 pixels and 3,200 frames per/s using a high-speed camera. During the LVI test (Figure 2(c) and (d)), all tubes are gripped by two limiting iron blocks at the bottom end in total of 30 mm along two directions. The entire fixture consists of a base with four grooves, eight T-nuts of size M8, and four iron blocks, each 150 mm in length with a hole diameter of 9 mm, and the center of the hole is 16.5 mm from the nearest end. Two of the iron blocks are 10 mm thick, and the other two are 20 mm thick. By changing the position of the sliding iron blocks, the fixture can be used to clamp and constrain hybrid tubes of different thicknesses as well as pure aluminum tubes. The detailed composition and size of the different specimens are summarized in Table 1, where symbols C, I, V, S, and A stand for the quasi-static compression test, LVI test, virgin aluminum tubes, single angle-ply sequence, and antisymmetric angle-ply sequence. The last number indicates the combination of ply angles. To ensure the reliability of the experimental results, three effective repeatability tests were carried out for each type of specimen.

Table 1

Composition and size of different specimens

Specimen Configuration of lay-up Mass (g) µ (g·mm−1) Total thickness (mm)
C-V Al 22.3 0.28 1.00
C-S0 Al/GFRP[0°]4 45.2 0.58 1.98
C-S90 Al/GFRP[90°]4 49.8 0.59 2.28
C-S45 Al/GFRP[45°]4 48.3 0.61 2.15
C-A0/90 Al/GFRP[0°/90°]2 48.6 0.60 2.07
C-A90/0 Al/GFRP[90°/0°]2 48.4 0.61 2.04
C-A ± 45 Al/GFRP[45°/−45°]2 49.5 0.61 2.18
I-V Al 22.2 0.28 1.00
I-S0 Al/GFRP[0°]4 45.4 0.58 2.01
I-S90 Al/GFRP[90°]4 47.6 0.59 2.21
I-S45 Al/GFRP[45°]4 48.5 0.61 2.17
I-A0/90 Al/GFRP[0°/90°]2 48.3 0.60 2.09
I-A90/0 Al/GFRP[90°/0°]2 48.7 0.61 2.10
I-A ± 45 Al/GFRP[45°/−45°]2 48.9 0.61 2.21

2.3 Important parameters in EA

Several crashworthiness indicators (43,44,45,46) were utilized to assess the crushing performance of square tubes under axial quasi-static loading and LVI loading: peak crushing force (PCF), MCF, crushing force efficiency (CFE), EA, and SEA.

The EA represents the total energy absorbed during the crushing process, which can be calculated by integrating the area under the force–displacement curve.

(1) EA = ∫ x = 0 x = l F ( x ) d x

where l is the total crushing displacement taken to be 50 mm in the quasi-static compression test, and F(x) is the process function of the load.

The MCF is defined as follows:

(2) MCF = 1 l ∫ x = 0 x = l F ( x ) d x

SEA is commonly employed to quantify the efficiency of the EA per unit mass, which is defined by dividing the total EA by the mass of the specimen in the quasi-static compression test:

(3) SEA = EA m

where m denotes the mass of the crashed structure.

In the LVI test, for specimens with various EA capacities, only the mass crushed part that participated in the EA process is defined as

(4) SEA = EA μ ∆ l

where μ is defined as the mass/unit length of the specimen and ∆ l is the crushed length. A high SEA value indicates that the crash box can become lighter. In the LVI tests, EA is the incident energy (110 J).

PCF is the maximum load during the crushing process, which can be obtained directly from the load–displacement curve. CFE is equal to MCF divided by PCF:

(5) CFE = MCF PCF

CFE is expected to be as high as possible to obtain a more efficient structure.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Quasi-static compression tests

3.1.1 Deformation analysis

Generally, all types of tubes have a similar failure process of a progressive folding failure mode initiated from the plastic deformation of aluminum. The progressive failure mode of aluminum/GFRP hybrid tubes depends on the axial progressive buckling crushing behavior of the internal aluminum tube, guiding the folding deformation process of the entire hybrid tube as a trigger.

Figure 3 shows the force–displacement curves of C-V. In the initial stage of crushing, the crushing force rapidly increased to the first peak, which was also PCF of the entire crushing process. Subsequently, the force decreased as a result of the aluminum’s yield and local instability.

Figure 3 Axial crushing test results of C-V: (a) force–displacement curves, (b) the crushing process, and (c) final deformation modes.
Figure 3

Axial crushing test results of C-V: (a) force–displacement curves, (b) the crushing process, and (c) final deformation modes.

In the initial stage of crushing, the crushing force quickly increased to the first peak, which was also the PCF in the entire crushing process, and then dropped due to the aluminum’s yield and local instability. The deformations of all seven cases are symmetrically successive folds; that is, the adjacent faces at the same axis position and adjacent folds at the same face have perpendicular folded directions. There are three periodic folds in the deformation process of pure aluminum tubes, as shown in Figure 3(b) and (c), which indicates that the peak force is observed at the initiation of each fold.

In general, the PCF is one of the key properties of tubes serviced as energy-absorbing structures. On the whole, the addition of wrapped GFRP can improve the PCF of aluminum tubes, which is, however, sensitive to the configuration of lay-up direction. For instance, the PCF of C-A ± 45 (34.63 kN) is 51.82% higher than that of C-S45 (22.81 kN). Moreover, in all three cases with unidirectional wrapped GFRP, C-S90 has the highest PCF (28.47 kN), which is higher than that of C-A90/0. C-A0/90 has a much higher performance on PCF than the C-A90/0, and the reason will be illuminated based on their evolution of failure.

Similar to C-V, C-S0 tubes have three main PCFs caused by three successive symmetrical folds. However, unfortunately, as shown in Figure 4(a), in the transverse direction, there is only the brittle matrix of the epoxy resin to carry the load, leading to the split at the outside GFRP of the corners of the aluminum tube and the rapid decrease of PCF (point C in Figure 4(a)). Therefore, as the outermost glass fiber falls off the aluminum tube, the load is mainly borne by inner aluminum tubes in the later stage.

Figure 4 Typical contact force–displacement and corresponding crush histories of the hybrid square tubes with single angle-ply sequence: (a) C-S0, (b) C-S45, and (c) C-S90.
Figure 4

Typical contact force–displacement and corresponding crush histories of the hybrid square tubes with single angle-ply sequence: (a) C-S0, (b) C-S45, and (c) C-S90.

As shown in Figure 4(b), in terms of C-S45, in addition to the failure mode of debonding and folds, it is also a fatal damage that results in fiber-breakage propagation in the GFRP along the [45°], beginning from the edge of the hybrid tube, resulting in continuous failure and relatively flat force–displacement curves with higher MCF, which indicates the higher energy-absorbing capability to C-S0 tubes.

In contrast to the C-S0 and C-S45 tubes, in both the inner aluminum tube and wrapped GFRP of the C-S90 cases, progressive crushing folding similar to the pure aluminum tube is found, as shown in Figure 5(c). Debonding and delamination failure occurred in the smallest area among the hybrid specimens with different lay-up sequences. It is worth noting that most of the fiber breakage and matrix crush occurred layer by layer from one end of the hybrid tube, which sustainably absorbs higher compressive energies with flatter force–displacement curves than the other two unidirectional lay-up sequence specimens.

Figure 5 Typical contact force–displacement curves and corresponding crush histories of hybrid square tubes with antisymmetric angle-ply sequence: (a) C-A90/0, (b) C-A0/90, and (c) C-A ± 45.
Figure 5

Typical contact force–displacement curves and corresponding crush histories of hybrid square tubes with antisymmetric angle-ply sequence: (a) C-A90/0, (b) C-A0/90, and (c) C-A ± 45.

The load–displacement curves of the hybrid square tubes with antisymmetric angle-ply in the axial quasi-static compression test are shown in Figure 5. In C-A90/0 tubes, the aluminum tube is reinforced by GFRP in two directions. It is observed that the majority of outer glass fibers fold together stably with inner aluminum. On the other hand, due to the GFRP [0°] ply being wrapped around the aluminum tube after laminating the GFRP [90°] ply, delamination failure occurred between the [0°] and [90°] ply, followed by debonding failure, which caused the GFRP to separate from the aluminum tube. This resulted in a significant reduction in bearing capacity, bending resistance, and strength in the axial direction. It is interesting that even though the similar layer-up configuration direction is set up in both C-A0/90 and C-A90/0 tubes, relatively higher PCF and MCF are found in C-A0/90 cases, benefitting by the prevention of split damage at the outer [0°] layer. In contrast to C-A0/90 tubes, the severe debonding and delamination failure of the GFRP [0°] ply could be suppressed by the outer GFRP [90°] ply. Moreover, due to the severe progressive buckling and folding of both the aluminum tube and glass fiber in the C-A90/0 specimen, at a crush displacement of 45 mm, the hybrid tube reaches the maximum number of fold petals it can withstand. After this point, no additional fold petals can be formed, and with the increase in load, EA can only be achieved by continuously reducing the thickness of the existing fold petals. Therefore, if the load continues to increase during the test, the load remains in an ascending state.

As shown in Figure 5(c), the C-A ± 45 and C-A0/90 tubes almost deformed in the same pattern with less fiber breakage and debonding failure between the aluminum and GFRP. Furthermore, the wrapped GFRP was observed with three thicker, consistent bulking folds as an inner aluminum tube, which indicates less debonding between the metal and GFRP layer. One more important key information is that among all tubes with antisymmetric angle-ply sequence, C-A ± 45 exhibits the lowest MCF after their highest PCF in all seven types of specimens.

Figures 4 and 5 show the load–displacement curve of hybrid square tubes, and they are compared with pure aluminum tubes. It is evident that the support of composite square tubes is substantially enhanced by GFRP in comparison to the pure aluminum tubes, and this reinforcement effect is sustained throughout the compression process. It is important to mention that the majority of the fiber disintegration occurred at the tube’s extremities. Moreover, when the glass fibers were piled together, the mechanical characteristics of each direction were combined.

3.1.2 Crashworthiness analysis

Owing to the absence of wrapped GFRP to restrict out-of-plane deformation, the upper and lower surfaces of the deformed aluminum tube are rectangles instead of squares with a hybrid structure, as shown in Figure 6. Three folds are found in all cases, but not all GFRP laminates are folded completely with the aluminum tube. Table 2 and Figure 7 show crush-force indicators of PCF and MCF as well as energy absorption indicators of SEA and CFE of hybrid square tubes. Overall, the crashworthiness characteristics of the pure tubes with the antisymmetric angle-ply sequence are superior to those of the single angle-ply sequence. This is because the antisymmetric angle-ply sequence can enhance the strength of the three-dimensional deformed aluminum tube in two directions, but the single angle-ply sequence cannot.

Figure 6 Damage morphology of all cases under quasi-static compression test.
Figure 6

Damage morphology of all cases under quasi-static compression test.

Table 2

Summary of crashworthiness indicators of the pure aluminum and hybrid specimens from the quasi-static axial compressive experiments

Specimen EA (J) SEA (J·g−1) MCF (kN) PCF (kN) CFE
C-V 306.33 13.74 6.13 16.14 0.38
C-S0 611.01 13.51 12.22 26.29 0.46
C-S90 947.55 19.02 18.95 28.47 0.67
C-S45 689.10 14.26 13.78 22.81 0.60
C-A0/90 1,057.45 21.75 21.15 32.55 0.65
C-A90/0 721.22 14.90 14.42 23.83 0.61
C-A ± 45 764.10 15.07 15.28 34.63 0.44
Figure 7 Effects of lay-up sequence on crashworthiness indicators under compressive loading: (a) PCF and MCF. (b) SEA and CFE.
Figure 7

Effects of lay-up sequence on crashworthiness indicators under compressive loading: (a) PCF and MCF. (b) SEA and CFE.

Further, axial and circumferential directions are the two main directions of deformation of specimens under axial compression tests. Several crashworthiness indicators of C-A0/90 are among the best, including the best MCF and SEA, which are 21.1 kN and 21.75 J·g−1, respectively, showing an increase of 245% and 58% compared to the pure aluminum tube specimens, and the second PCF and CFE. The MCF of hybrid square tubes with [0°/90°]2 sequences was significantly increased by 245% compared to pure aluminum tubes.

The increase in the axial compression strength is attributed to the [0°] ply of GFRP, and the [90°] ply can prevent the splitting damage at the inter [0°] layer. Besides, the combination of the two reduces the risk of fiber debonding. As a result, it is the most efficient layering sequence in terms of EA and compression strength.

For C-S90, despite the fact that local fiber fracture failure and cracking of the matrix, certain GFRP materials were still subjected to the load and absorbed energy in conjunction with the aluminum throughout the entire pulverizing process. Among them, C-S90 improved by 58%, which possessed the highest CFE compared with the pure aluminum tube. Aluminum tubes benefited from the [90°] ply of GFRP to the prevention of excessive out-of-plane deformation, but the disadvantage of single angle-ply sequence cannot be ignored. In its damage morphology, the circumferential fibers are well preserved, but severe fiber debonding and matrix cracks are found in the axial direction. Therefore, its crashworthiness indicators are lower than those of the hybrid tubes with the sequence of [0°/90°]2.

It is interesting to note that the C-A ± 45 specimen has the largest PCF but poor MCF, SEA, and CFE. Compared with the damage morphology of other types of specimens, the largest interlaminar delamination area of the C-A ± 45 specimen is highlighted, but there is no significant fiber debonding or breakage at both ends, as shown in Figure 6. However, with the increase of loading displacement, the GFRP layer obviously bulges and debonds with the aluminum tube, which leads to lower strength after PCF. Therefore, the overall performance of the C-A ± 45 specimen is not good. In addition, the performance of the C-S45 and C-S0 specimens is even worse because of the extensive crack propagation and global separation between GFRP and aluminum.

3.2 Single and repeated LVI tests

3.2.1 Deformation analysis

The deformation process of all cases under repeated impact is shown in Figure 8, and the damage morphology of all specimens after the single and repeated LVI is shown in Figure 9. The first column of Figure 8 is not only the failure morphology of the specimen in the first impact but also the initial morphology in the second impact. Repeated impact aggravates the existing damage of the specimen after the single impact, such as fiber splitting at the top of the I-S0 specimen and fiber breakage of the I-S45 caused by aluminum tubes pushing out. First, under the second impact, the crush displacement of all tests was significantly larger than the first, and the length of the specimens was noticeably shortened severely. Second, the first impact caused very little damage to the specimens with higher strength, such as C-S90, C-A0/90, and C-A90/0, with only a small amount of buckling and matrix cracking occurring. However, during the second impact, they all clearly formed a folding petal, and severe fiber breakage and even fiber detachment occurred, indicating that the damage was much greater compared to the first impact.

Figure 8 Deformation process of all types of specimens under the repeated LVI.
Figure 8

Deformation process of all types of specimens under the repeated LVI.

Figure 9 Damage morphology of all types of specimens after the single and repeated LVI.
Figure 9

Damage morphology of all types of specimens after the single and repeated LVI.

For all kinds of specimens, the main damage area is at the top of the specimen and around the fixture constraint, where the wrapping of the GFRP layer significantly reduces the deformation of aluminum tubes. In first and repeated impacts, the pure aluminum tube can form several complete folds. However, except for the I-S0 specimen, the specimens with GFRP ply only suffer extrusion deformation at the top rather than a complete folding. Further analysis of damage details is shown in Figure 9. According to the ply angle of outer GFRP, the damage at the top further propagates downward, such as fiber tearing in the [0°] ply, matrix cracking in the [90°] ply, and fiber breakage in the [45°] ply.

The force–displacement curves of all specimens subjected to the single and repeated impact are shown in Figure 10. In general, the slope prior to attaining PCF exhibits minimal change due to the predominant elastic deformation and minimal plastic deformation. Second, the plastic deformation of the entire specimen and damage of GFRP ply results in oscillation, declining the impact force until the impactor reaches the lowest end. Finally, the rebound behavior is found in some types of specimens before the force reaches the lowest. However, at the end of the force oscillation stage, the force of the aluminum tube and the I-S0 specimen increases instead of declining because the formation of a complete fold enhances the bearing capacity. In particular, it takes two impacts to form a complete fold in I-S0.

Figure 10 The contact force–displacement curves of all specimens compared with pure aluminum tubes: (a) hybrid tubes of single angle-ply sequence, (b) hybrid tubes of the antisymmetric angle-ply sequence under the single LVI, (c) hybrid tubes of single angle-ply sequence, and (d) hybrid tubes of the antisymmetric angle-ply sequence under the repeated LVI.
Figure 10

The contact force–displacement curves of all specimens compared with pure aluminum tubes: (a) hybrid tubes of single angle-ply sequence, (b) hybrid tubes of the antisymmetric angle-ply sequence under the single LVI, (c) hybrid tubes of single angle-ply sequence, and (d) hybrid tubes of the antisymmetric angle-ply sequence under the repeated LVI.

3.2.2 Crashworthiness analysis

Further, the crashworthiness characteristics of all specimens are listed in Table 3, and four crashworthiness indicators under both single and repeated impacts are compared in Figure 11. Compared with the hybrid structures, the failure displacement of aluminum tubes is much larger and that of PCF is smaller. Further, whether the single or repeated impact, the PCF and failure displacement of the specimens with antisymmetric angle ply are higher and lower than that of single angle ply, respectively.

Table 3

Crashworthiness characteristics of all types of specimens under the single and repeated LVI

Specimen ∆ L (mm) SEA (J·g−1) MCF (kN) PCF (kN) CFE
I-V-1st 22.80 17.23 4.92 20.50 0.24
I-S0-1st 6.20 30.60 13.97 34.42 0.41
I-S90-1st 9.33 32.09 10.43 19.44 0.54
I-S45-1st 5.81 19.32 14.24 30.37 0.47
I-A0/90-1st 4.13 44.39 29.08 54.76 0.53
I-A90/0-1st 4.29 42.03 24.94 54.09 0.46
I-A ± 45-1st 6.01 30.00 13.86 39.19 0.35
I-V-2nd 22.50 17.46 4.58 8.59 0.53
I-S0-2nd 13.15 14.22 7.96 13.69 0.58
I-S90-2nd 9.41 19.81 8.82 15.49 0.57
I-S45-2nd 12.6 14.31 5.86 11.61 0.51
I-A0/90-2nd 5.28 34.72 22.43 41.05 0.55
I-A90/0-2nd 8.31 21.70 14.50 30.34 0.48
I-A ± 45-2nd 7.62 23.67 11.48 24.09 0.48
Figure 11 Effects of lay-up sequence on crashworthiness indicators under single and repeated LVI: (a) PCF and (b) MCF. (c) SEA and (d) CFE.
Figure 11

Effects of lay-up sequence on crashworthiness indicators under single and repeated LVI: (a) PCF and (b) MCF. (c) SEA and (d) CFE.

Among the specimens with single angle-ply, the largest PCF is found in the I-S0 specimen because fiber ply in parallel with impact loading makes the bearing capacity best. Besides, the antisymmetric hybrid tubes with [0°] ply, including the I-A0/90 and I-A90/0 specimens, have very high PCF under the single impact. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that layering parallel to loading is the most efficient way to improve PCF. However, serious flower-like fiber splitting and poor crashworthiness indicators are found in the I-S0 specimen after the single and repeated impact. Moreover, a significant decline of PCF is found in the I-A90/0 specimens in the repeated impact. In particular, compared with all cases, better crashworthiness indicators are found in the I-A0/90 specimen. As a result, only [0°] ply cannot improve PCF and crashworthiness performance, and it is necessary to set intersecting ply around the [0°] ply to limit its out-of-plane splitting. This conclusion is also consistent with the static compression tests.

In all the specimens, except CFE, the other three crashworthiness indicators of the repeated impact are exceeded by the single impact. The successive impacts significantly decrease the peak force relative to the initial impact. Similar to a compression test, the peak force after the first impact is much lower than the peak force. Because the partial or complete folding of the pure aluminum tube after the first impact significantly reduces the structural stiffness, the crushed length increases, and the MCF decreases in the second impact. The further reason for CFE overtaking in repeated impact is that the decline rate of PCF is greater than that of MCF after the second impact.

The MCF and SEA of a pure aluminum tube are nearly the same under two impacts. However, the PCF of 8.59 kN during the second impact is 58% lower than the 20.50 kN PCF during the first impact. Further, the reformed folds keep the same MCF, so the growth rate of CFE is as high as 55%. Compared with the pure aluminum tube, SEA and CFE of the I-A0/90 specimens in the first impact increased by 158% and 121%, respectively. Although almost all the crashworthiness indicators of all the specimens decreased after the second impact compared with the first impact, the crashworthiness indicators, including MCF of 22.43 kN, PCF of 41.05 kN, and SEA of 34.72 J·g−1, of the I-A0/90 specimens are still the largest. Therefore, it shows excellent crashworthiness in both impacts.

Consistent with the compression test, the crashworthiness performance of the I-S90 specimen, which only relies on GFRP ply to limit its out-of-plane deformation, is not ideal, and it often suffers from strength reduction because of matrix cracking. Compared with the crashworthiness indicators between the two impacts, the tubes, including I-A0/90, I-S0, and I-S45, have a large difference. In particular, from the first impact to the second impact, SEA, MCF, and PCF of the I-A90/0 specimen decreased by 48%, 42%, and 44%, respectively. The properties of I-A ± 45 specimens are relatively mediocre because their ply angle and deformation direction are not consistent enough, and serious fiber breakage and debonding are found.

4 Conclusion

This study investigated the crashworthiness characteristics of pure aluminum square tubes and six different types of lay-up sequence Al/GFRP square tubes through axial quasi-static compressive tests and single and repeated dynamic impact tests. The Al/GFRP square tubes were compared to those of each component in detail. Based on the experimental results, the following conclusions were obtained:

  • In the quasi-static compressive tests, progressive failure, characterized by stable symmetric crushing and folding accompanying three layers of lobes with plastic hinge, is observed in all structures. A single impact cannot make the hybrid structures form a complete fold, but a second impact continues the process of folding deformation. Therefore, LVI will induce structural progressive failure if the incident energy or impact number increases.

  • Owing to the material properties of glass fiber being dominant in the axial direction, the laying of 0° GFRP can help to improve PCF. However, in the experiments with large loading displacement (compression and repeated LVI tests), debonding between aluminum tube and GFRP ply, as well as flower-like fiber splitting, significantly decreases the PCF of the tube containing only 0° GFRP (Al/GFRP [0°]4). Laying some GFRP of [90°] ply on the outermost periphery of the structure can better limit the buckling of the aluminum tube and inner fiber splitting; therefore, the corresponding structures keep higher and more stable crushing force behind PCF. In particular, in the compressive testing, the Al/GFRP [0°/90°]2 and Al/GFRP [90°]4 tubes exhibit the first MCF of 21.75 kN and the second MCF of 18.95 kN, respectively.

  • The structure with GFRP of single angle ply has weak orientation, but proper stacking parameters can complement each other and significantly improve crashworthiness. In particular, the Al/GFRP [0°/90°]2 specimen shows the best SEA and MCF in three types of tests due to the synergy effect of two layers. However, the performance of the Al/GFRP [0°/90°]2 specimen is not satisfactory because the GFRP stacking order is inverted inside and outside. Besides, the unsuitable stacking parameters of the Al/GFRP [45°/−45°]2 and Al/GFRP [45°]4 specimens lead to poor crashworthiness indicators (MCF, SEA, and CFE in three tests) because the structure is more prone to fiber breakage and debonding with the increase of loading displacement.

Acknowledgments

This work was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant/Award Number: 12362016); Foundation of Jiangxi Province of China Educational Committee (Grant/Award Numbers: GJJ2400510, GJJ2201503, and GJJ201907); and the Central Government Guides Local Funds for Science and Technology Development (Free exploration of basic research 246Z1206G).

  1. Author contributions: Liangliang Zhang, Chaojiang Li, and Yilong Chen conducted the research; Yida Chen and Zhihao Su analyzed the data; Ye Wu and Qiulan Wu wrote the paper; Yun Wan provided guidance; all authors had approved the final version.

  2. Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

  3. Data availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Received: 2024-10-27
Revised: 2024-11-15
Accepted: 2024-12-05
Published Online: 2024-12-31

© 2024 the author(s), published by De Gruyter

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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https://doi.org/10.1515/epoly-2024-0101
Keywords for this article
hybrid structure; energy absorption; axial quasi-static compression; single/repeated low-velocity impact; lay-up sequence
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BY 4.0

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  42. Design, synthesis, and characterization of novel copolymer gel particles for water-plugging applications
  43. Influence of 1,1′-Azobis(cyclohexanezonitrile) on the thermo-oxidative aging performance of diolefin elastomers
  44. Characteristics of cellulose nanofibril films prepared by liquid- and gas-phase esterification processes
  45. Investigation on the biaxial stretching deformation mechanism of PA6 film based on finite element method
  46. Simultaneous effects of temperature and backbone length on static and dynamic properties of high-density polyethylene-1-butene copolymer melt: Equilibrium molecular dynamics approach
  47. Research on microscopic structure–activity relationship of AP particle–matrix interface in HTPB propellant
  48. Three-layered films enable efficient passive radiation cooling of buildings
  49. Electrospun nanofibers membranes of La(OH)3/PAN as a versatile adsorbent for fluoride remediation: Performance and mechanisms
  50. Preparation and characterization of biodegradable polyester fibers enhanced with antibacterial and antiviral organic composites
  51. Preparation of hydrophobic silicone rubber composite insulators and the research of anti-aging performance
  52. Surface modification of sepiolite and its application in one-component silicone potting adhesive
  53. Study on hydrophobicity and aging characteristics of epoxy resin modified with nano-MgO
  54. Optimization of baffle’s height in an asymmetric twin-screw extruder using the response surface model
  55. Effect of surface treatment of nickel-coated graphite on conductive rubber
  56. Experimental investigation on low-velocity impact and compression after impact behaviors of GFRP laminates with steel mesh reinforced
  57. Development and characterization of acetylated and acetylated surface-modified tapioca starches as a carrier material for linalool
  58. Investigation of the compaction density of electromagnetic moulding of poly(ether-ketone-ketone) polymer powder
  59. Experimental investigation on low-velocity-impact and post-impact-tension behaviors of GFRP T-joints after hydrothermal aging
  60. The repeated low-velocity impact response and damage accumulation of shape memory alloy hybrid composite laminates
  61. Exploring a new method for high-performance TPSiV preparation through innovative Si–H/Pt curing system in VSR/TPU blends
  62. Large-scale production of highly responsive, stretchable, and conductive wrapped yarns for wearable strain sensors
  63. Preparation of natural raw rubber and silica/NR composites with low generation heat through aqueous silane flocculation
  64. Molecular dynamics simulation of the interaction between polybutylene terephthalate and A3 during thermal-oxidative aging
  65. Crashworthiness of GFRP/aluminum hybrid square tubes under quasi-static compression and single/repeated impact
  66. Review Articles
  67. Recent advancements in multinuclear early transition metal catalysts for olefin polymerization through cooperative effects
  68. Impact of ionic liquids on the thermal properties of polymer composites
  69. Recent progress in properties and application of antibacterial food packaging materials based on polyvinyl alcohol
  70. Additive manufacturing (3D printing) technologies for fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials: A review on fabrication methods and process parameters
  71. Rapid Communication
  72. Design, synthesis, characterization, and adsorption capacities of novel superabsorbent polymers derived from poly (potato starch xanthate-graft-acrylamide)
  73. Special Issue: Biodegradable and bio-based polymers: Green approaches (Guest Editors: Kumaran Subramanian, A. Wilson Santhosh Kumar, and Venkatajothi Ramarao)
  74. Development of smart core–shell nanoparticles-based sensors for diagnostics of salivary alpha-amylase in biomedical and forensics
  75. Thermoplastic-polymer matrix composite of banana/betel nut husk fiber reinforcement: Physico-mechanical properties evaluation
  76. Special Issue: Electrospun Functional Materials
  77. Electrospun polyacrylonitrile/regenerated cellulose/citral nanofibers as active food packagings
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