Drop‐Weight Impact Analysis of Unidirectional Sisal Fiber –Reinforced Epoxy Resin Composite Material for Automotive Application Based on ASTM D‐7136 Standard

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to investigate the drop‐weight impact analysis of sisal fiber–reinforced epoxy resin composite materials for automotive applications using Abaqus/CAE software based on the ASTM D‐7136 standard. For this simulation, a [0/0] s unidirectional sisal/epoxy composite laminate with an overall thickness of 2.16 mm was used, and 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 kg of a rigid hemispherical impactor mass with 1, 2, and 3 m/s of velocities were used to deal with their effects on the composite laminates. The result revealed that the initial damage mechanism in the impact event is the interplay matrix crack. After that, matrix and fiber debonding, fiber breakage, and penetration occurred depending on the mass and velocity of the impactor. In addition, when the impactor mass and velocity increase, the composite plate’s reaction forces and energy absorption increase up to 1 kg of the impactor at 3 m/s. However, for 2 and 3 kg of the impactor mass, the energy absorption capacity of the material is decreased due to the high damage and perforation of the composite laminate. In general, it is found that the unidirectional sisal fiber–reinforced epoxy resin composite material has a moderate energy absorption capacity in the transverse direction and has the potential to be used for different automotive interior body applications.