Impact and bending behaviours of composites with various channel diameters

Fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) with micro-vascular/vascular channels are used for different purposes in various applications, such as self-healing ability, thermal management and damage detection. Understanding the behavior of these types of composites under mechanical loads is crucial, as their applications continue to expand day by day. Therefore, the current MSc thesis study examines the impact and bending behavior of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites with microvascular/vascular channels of different diameters. All specimens were manufactured to maintain all parameters except for the vascular channel diameters. This allows the effects of various channel diameters on material behavior to be directly observed. Bending tests revealed that increased vascular channel diameters significantly increased the stiffness (rigidity) of the material. In particular, a 41.26% increase in stiffness values was reported in CFRP specimens with a 5 mm vascular channel diameter compared to reference specimens without channels. In drop weight impact (DWI) tests, it was observed that various channel diameters particularly altered the fracture mechanism. As the channel diameter increased, the fractures became less catastrophic in the same energy levels. However, in DWI tests, behaviors that could affect the test result in largediameter specimens are reported, and it was observed that the test fixtures or specimen placements needed to be revised for future studies.