Abstract: High velocity impact damage of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer laminates under hygrothermal environment is investigated. Composite laminate specimens were dried in a vacuum oven, and a part of specimens were immersed in water at 70 ℃ for 37.7 days. Then all specimens were impacted by conical projectile with the velocity of 45m/s, 68 m/s, and 86 m/s. The laser velocity measurement device was used to measure the striking and residual velocity. The impact damages of composite specimens under different environments were tested by using ultrasonic C-scan, digital microscope system, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and visual inspection. The experiment results show that, damage projection area increases with the increasing striking velocity. At the case of low velocity, the hygrothermal environment has a greater impact on the damage projection area of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer laminates. The interlaminar properties of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer laminates under hygrothermal environment reduced, while the energy absorption ability increased.

Key words: hygrothermal environment, carbon epoxy, moisture, impact damage