Short-fiber-reinforced polymers (SFRPs) based on unidirectionally arrayed chopped strands (UACSs) have excellent formability and outstanding mechanical response. The low-velocity impact response, such as the delamination, damage tolerance and energy absorption of UACS composites, are essential to guarantee the stability and safety of composite components in service. The current study investigates the low-velocity impact response of continuous carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) and UACS laminates with vertical slits under drop-weight impact with various impact energies (4, 7 and 11 J). The in-plane size of the studied samples is 100 mm × 100 mm, and the stacking sequence is [0/90]4s. The time-history curves of load and energy are examined during low-velocity impact experiments, as well as the nonvisible damages are obtained by ultrasound C-scan imaging technique. A user-defined subroutine VUMAT, including the Johnson-Cook material and failure model, which is used to simulate the elastic-plastic property of the slits filled with resin, is coded in ABAQUS/Explicit. According to C-scan inspections of the impact-damaged laminates, UACS specimens show more severe delamination as impact energy increases. The damaged area of continuous CFRP laminates under impact energy of 11 J is 311 mm2, while that of UACS laminates is 1230 mm2. The slits have a negative effect on the load-bearing capacity but increase the energy absorption of UACS laminates by approximately 80% compared to the continuous CFRP laminates at 7 J. According to the variables of different damage modes in numerical simulation, cracks appear at the slits and then expand along the direction perpendicular to the slits, leading to the fracture of fiber. Nevertheless, as the damage expands to the slits, the delamination confines the damage propagation. The existence of slits could guide the path of damage propagation.
Keywords: UACS laminates; damage behavior; finite element simulation; low-velocity impact.