Abstract
The low velocity impact response of composite materials manufactured from dry fibre tows using the automated fibre placement technique has been investigated. Following fibre placement, the dry preforms were infused with an epoxy resin. The influence of incorporating graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles into the matrix was investigated, and the impact response of these samples was compared to that of its plain resin counterpart. Flexural and low velocity impact tests were undertaken in this study to understand the influence of GO nano-filler loading on mechanical behaviour of the unreinforced epoxy resin. The introduction of GO into the resin showed nearly 50% increase in ductility compared with that of the neat polymer at a mere 0.1 wt% filler loading. However, GO had a negligible effect on the impact response of these novel composites. There was no observable difference between the load-displacement traces or the resulting damage in the plain and unmodified composites. It is possible that the polymer's ability to undergo larger non-linear deformation at lower rates of strain is suppressed when it is subjected to impact rates of loading.