Delamination in FRP laminates with holes under transverse impact

The present paper deals with the study of hybridization on impact response and impact induced delamination of laminated composite plates with holes. Three dimensional finite element analysis has been done to evaluate the response of graphite/epoxy laminate as well as graphite/epoxy–kevlar/epoxy hybrid laminate subjected to impact loading, and stress based delamination criterion has been used to assess the chances of delamination initiation from the inner edges of the hole at different interfaces. The present study concludes that incorporation of kevlar/epoxy at the outer layers of the [0/−45/45/90]2S in the graphite/epoxy laminate improves the impact resistance of the laminate in terms of reduced magnitude of the contact force but the chances of impact induced delamination at the interfaces increase.