Lightweight, Fiber-Damage-Resistant, and Healable Bio-Inspired Glass-Fiber Reinforced Polymer Laminate

Glass-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) laminates are widely used in the automotive and marine industries such as auto bodies and boat hulls. Decreasing the weight and improving the reparability of GFRP parts will cut down material usage, fuel consumption and repair costs. This study shows a bio-inspired helicoidal stacking configuration that significantly improves the impact performance and fiber damage resistance of GFRP laminates. For similar impact performance in terms of perforation energy, the helicoidal GFRP laminate is 20% lighter than the conventional quasi-isotropic GFRP laminate. Upon impact, delaminations and matrix splits link-up and grow extensively throughout the helicoidal laminate. This effectively reduces fiber damage and improves impact performance. Because helicoidal GFRP laminates are resistant to fiber damage and composite healing agents can effectively repair non-fiber damage, embedding healing agents into helicoidal GFRP results in lightweight, inexpensive and healable laminates.