Investigation of high impact capacity composite material for civil infrastructure

Abstract

[Abstract]: The aims of this project were to investigate the mechanical properties of High Modulus Polypropylene (HMPP) fiber and hybrid E-Glass/HMPP flat panel and cylindrical specimens under tensile and impact loading situations, to determine whether the materials are suitable for absorbing blast and seismic loadings applied to civil infrastructure. Specimen production and testing was undertaken using the resources of the Center for Excellence in Engineered Fiber Composites (CEEFC) and the University of Southern Queensland Engineering Faculty. Tensile properties and drop weight impact tests were performed on HMPP test specimens to determine the mechanical characteristics and high strain rate energy absorption capacity of the material. Hybridization of subsequent sets of samples was performed to attempt to increase the structural properties of the specimens while maintaining a significant portion of energy absorption characteristics of the material. It was found that hybridization of HMPP materials with showed considerable improvements in both tensile strength and the impact capacity of some specimens. Glass/HMPP410 hybrid specimens, in particular, exhibited over 300% improvement in tensile strength while also increasing the impact resistance of more than 500% over the HMPP410 only specimens. These performance improvements were shown to have been possible while reducing the overall manufacturing cost of the specimens. Hybrid composite tubes tested also showed great improvement in energy absorption capacity and crushing efficiency over their HMPP only counterpart.