Design and fabrication of a low speed impact tester

Abstract

The impact response of sandwich panels with an improved structure to increase their impact resistance is investigated. In order to compare the impact performance of sandwich structures, a specific and instrumented drop-weight impact tester was designed and developed. The experimental part of this work is an evaluation on composite sandwich panels behavior used in the manufacturing of the UNAM Electrobús chassis. Two different sandwich structures are analyzed: the first type is a structure composed by a glass fiber-polyester matrix composite facesheets and a polyethylene honeycomb core. The second one consists of facesheets made from a glass fiberepoxy matrix composite laminate and core formed by internal phenolic honeycomb structure. The first structure was specifically designed to improve  rashworthiness for transport applications. The main results of this study are evaluated from the absorbed energy performance of the sandwich structures subjected to a single impact, and the development of useful criteria for materials selection.