Influence of Freeze-Thaw Aging on the Impact Performance of Damped Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics for Automotive Applications

The increasing use of composite materials in the automotive field requires more attention with regards to the appearance of noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) study in cars construction. However, in car door panels production, impact characteristics need to be evaluated in sandwich laminates. Furthermore, it is important to consider the effect of prolonged environmental aging on crashworthiness properties. The innovative content of the work is the hygrothermal effects evaluation on impact performance for two damped CFRP sandwich laminates. In this paper, two damping materials, Kraibon HHZ9578/99 and SUT9609/24, were used as core between two skins of CFRP for sandwich composite production. Freeze-Thaw aging treatment according to IEC 60068, specific for Automotive, was performed to investigate environmental effects on components. Up to 750 h, it was demonstrated that water absorption is regulated by Fick’s Law. The low-velocity impact behavior of the damped sandwiches has been studied according to ASTM D7136 throughout drop dart test equipment. Both main peak forces and energy absorption characteristics are negatively affected by aging condition. The introduction of damping core inside the composite structure of vehicle components can satisfy NVH constrictions. By contrast, at least same operating conditions must be assured in relation to not-damped components.