Damage can be produced in polymers composite materials submitted to low energy impact events. The cumulative effect of such repetitive impacts could finally cause failure of the structure. In this work two pultruded composites were submitted to drop-weight tests. The results obtained were evaluated according to the fiber distribution in the composites. It was also shown that the presence of a resin rich layer in one of the composites strongly reduces the performance of this composite. This behavior was associated with the development of cracks in the resin rich layer. The number of repeated impacts, the duration of the impact and the shape of the damaged area were correlated to the presence, or the absence, of the resin rich layer. The results obtained also show that the difference between the microstructures of the pultruded profiles analyzed is more significant when low energy impact tests were performed (drop height : 0.5 m). For the tests performed with a higher impact energy (drop height : 1 m) the microstructure plays only a secondary role.
Pultruded composites; low energy impact tests; defects
