the impact resistance of fiber-reinforced polymer composites: a review

fiber reinforced composites are widely used instead of traditional materials in various technological applications. therefore, by considering the extensive applications of these materials, a proper knowledge of their impact behavior (from low- to high-velocity) as well as their static behavior is necessary. in order to study the effects of strain rates on the behavior of these materials, special testing machines are needed. most of the research efforts in this feld are focused on application of real loading and gripping boundary conditions on the testing specimens. in this paper, a detailed review of different types of impact testing techniques and the strain rate dependence of mechanical and strength properties of polymer composite materials  are presented. in this respect, an attempt is made to present and summarize the methods of impact tests and the strain rate effects on the tensile, compressive, shear and bending properties of the fber-reinforced polymer composite materials. moreover, a classifcation of the state-of-the-art of the testing techniques to characterize composite material properties in a wide range of strain rates are also given.