Investigation of sea water effect on impact behavior of laminated composite plates

The aim of this study is to investigate the sea water effect on impact behavior of glass-epoxy laminated composite plates. Therefore, 135 pieces of specimens were prepared in dimensions of 100 x 100 mm with thickness of 3 mm. Impact tests of specimens were conducted by the Fractovis Plus Impact Test MachineThe experimental phase of this study consists of five stages. In each stage 27 specimens were used. In first stage, dry specimens were used and in last four stages, wet specimens were used. In these specimens, seawater immersion times were chosen as 1, 3, 6, 9 months. Before the impact test, the masses of dry and seawater immersed specimens were measured by sensitive weighing machine to calculate the amount of water absorption. Specimens were impacted at impact energies, 10J, 20J and 30 J and impactor masses, 5 kg, 10 kg and 15 kg.The absorbed energy, maximum contact force, maximum deflection and maximum contact time were obtained according to the seawater immersion time. From the obtained results, it?s observed that the specimen that has longer immersion time, the absorbed energy of the specimen has decreased but the contact time has increased.