Experimental Investigation of Unidirectional Glass-Fiber-Reinforced Plastics under High Strain Rates

When a vehicle leaves the road, crash barriers stop it and prevent significant damage to the vehicle, its environment, and the occupants. Typically, such protection systems are made of simple steel, but fiber-reinforced composites can efficiently absorb and dissipate the impact energy at high-risk locations. In order to design such protective systems, material parameters under dynamic loading are necessary. Here, split Hopkinson pressure bar tests with unidirectional glass-fiber-reinforced epoxy of 58% glass fiber content are performed. The elastic response at strain rates between 300/s and 700/s in the loading direction parallel and perpendicular to the fiber is determined. From the measured data, a model of the time dependence of the elastic modulus is derived to enable the design engineer to lay out protective systems made of such GFRPs.