Hydrothermal effects on the burst strength of impacted glass fiber/epoxy composite pipes

Abstract The effects of hydrothermal aging and low velocity impact loading on E-glass fiber/epoxy composite pipes subjected to a continuous internal pressure were experimentally investigated in this paper. The pipes were manufactured by the commonly adopted filament winding method, which is consisting of six antisymmetric layers with (±55°)3 winding angles. Then, they were immersed in tap water at intervals of 500, 1000 and 1500 h. Low velocity impact tests were performed at three different energy levels (5, 7.5 and 10 J), followed by internal pressure testing. The results showed that both impact energy levels and water immersion time have significantly affected the burst strength of the pipe. It also indicated that the peak force and displacement increased with the increase of impact energy. During the burst pressure tests, weepage and eruption failures were observed.