Title: Repair Potential of Polymeric Cold Spray for Impact-Damaged GFRP Composites

Authors: Ibnaj Anamika Anni, Margaret Barrasso, Stephen McClain, Madison S. Kaminskyj, Francis M. Haas, Behrad Koohbor

DOI: 10.33599/nasampe/s.24.0177

Abstract: Fiber-reinforced composites are susceptible to structural damage that reduces their effective service life. This study explores an innovative approach based on polymeric cold spray to repair and recover the mechanical properties of damaged composites. In this work, glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites serve as the material under investigation. Impact-induced damage on these structures is applied using gas gun projectiles at four distinct impact energies 1.14, 1.77, 2.21, and 3.31 J corresponding to surface energy densities of 316.7 J/cm², 491.67 J/cm², 613.9 J/cm², and 919.4 J/cm². We assess the degradation of mechanical properties resulting from these impact energies and then employ the polymer cold spray technique as a novel repair method to improve the inflicted damage area of the composite. We characterize the initial damage to the GFRP composites using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Microstructural observations uncover varying degrees of debonding, and delamination correlated with the different impact energy levels. Following damage assessment, the cold spray of nylon 6 is employed to repair the damage. Mechanical tests on pristine, damaged, and repaired samples reveal varying degrees of performance recovery based on the initial impact energy. Notably, polymer cold spray repair resulted in the regaining of 50% and 29% of the lost load-bearing capacity for samples impacted at 1.14 J and 1.77 J, respectively. While the results herein indicate that polymer cold spray effectively repairs surface-level damage on the GFRP composites, it falls short of recovering the mechanical properties associated with internal damages like debonding and delamination. The findings point to future research directions for optimizing this technique for comprehensive composite material recovery.

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Conference: SAMPE 2024

Publication Date: 2024/05/20

SKU: TP24-0000000177

Pages: 11

Price: $22.00