Abstract

This paper is concerned with the effect of water absorption on the impact behavior of woven carbon fiber reinforced epoxy (CFRE) composites. The composite laminates were manufactured using the prepreg technique and then cut to the standard dimensions following the ?ASTM D 7136. The specimens were immersed in distilled water up to 368 h. The moist specimens were characterized by falling weight tester at different impact energies. The impact results are compared with the results obtained under dry testing conditions. The comparison shows that water-immersed plates absorb almost the same energy as the corresponding dry ones. However, the maximum force obtained with the water-immersed plates is 15%-20% lower than those of the corresponding dry plates. This can be interpreted in terms of the degradation effect the composite material by water absorption.