Repair of Flexuously Impact Damaged CFRTP Applying an Inserting Method with Tiny Melted Sheet of PP Resin Modified with Fine Glass Fibers

The purpose of this study is to reveal the effects of the modification of the sheet of Polypropylene (PP) with fine glass fibers for repair of the Carbon Fiber Reinforced Thermo Plastics (CFRTP) on the recover ratio of degraded mechanical properties of damaged CFRTP after impact bending. Impact damaged specimen was repaired by inserting tiny melted sheet of PP modified with fine glass fibers to be assimilated with PP matrix around the surface of damaged area. Model specimens having cut reinforcements were prepared for compressive buckling tests to investigate the effect of the modification on mechanical behaviors under compressive stress due to the impact bending. The recovering ratio defined as the ratio of compressive buckling strength of damaged model specimen to that of un-damaged specimen was investigated. The recovering ratio of model specimen after the repair was about 49% when the unmodified PP sheet was used to repair. On the other hand, when the weight content rate of fine glass fibers was 2.0wt%, about 73% of recovering ratio was successfully obtained. The appropriate condition of the weight content rate was shown for repairing the damaged part of the CFRTP used in this study.