Repair efficiency studies on resin infused scarf repaired composite structure

Palaniappan, J., Brisoux, S., Boyd, S.W., Shenoi, R.A. and Mawella, J. (2009) Repair efficiency studies on resin infused scarf repaired composite structure. 10th Deformation and Fracture of Composites (DFC 10), Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Composite materials have been increasingly adopted in marine industries such as for patrol boats, minecounter measure vessels, hovercrafts etc. The composite materials in these vessels undergo damage during service and any permanent repair technique adopted has to restore the integrity of the damaged composite structure. Although number of researchers have studied on scarf repaired technique [1, 2], they are mostly layer-by-layer handlaid scarf repaired technique. One of the modern fabrication technology for composite material, vacuum-assisted resin infused technique [3] is gaining wider acceptance due to reduced styrene emission, one step process, more consistent, higher laminate properties etc. In this current study, this vacuum assisted resin infused fabrication technique is adopted as the repair route to scarf repair the damaged composite structure. The composite scarf joint configuration was utilized to simulate scarf repaired composite panels.

Experimental tests, tensile and 4 point bending tests, were conducted on resin infused scarf repaired Glass -epoxy composite laminate to determine the repair efficiency of the structure. Effectiveness was assessed by the tensile strength and flexure strength of the repaired laminate.

Aiming towards better efficiency, parametric studies are conducted for various parameters such as scarf angle, repair material and surface preparation. Failure modes for various configurations are studied and reported. The efficiency improvements by these parameters are dealt in the rest of the paper.

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