This study investigates the compression after impact (CAI) behavior of carbon-fiber foam-core sandwich composites in low temperature arctic conditions. Low-velocity impact and CAI tests are experimentally conducted across temperature from −70 °C to 23 °C. Results show higher compressive strength for non-impacted specimens at low temperature. However, upon impact, severe damage and complex failure modes at low temperature lead to significant reduction in CAI strength by 60%. X-ray micro-computed tomography reveal additional CAI damage mechanisms, such as auxiliary facesheet matrix cracking, localized back facesheet delamination-induced buckling, and front facesheet debonding. The types of CAI damage modes and failure locations are apparently different for room and low temperature conditions. The findings of this study are supported by a newly proposed analytical model that predicts CAI performance using fracture mechanics based concepts. This work evidently demonstrates that the damage tolerance of sandwich composites is severely reduced at low temperature conditions.

这项研究调查了低温北极条件下碳纤维泡沫芯夹芯复合材料的冲击后压缩（CAI）行为。在-70°C至23°C的温度范围内进行了低速冲击和CAI测试。结果表明，在低温下非冲击试样的抗压强度更高。但是，在撞击时，低温下的严重损坏和复杂的失效模式会导致CAI强度显着降低60％。X射线计算机断层扫描显示了额外的CAI损伤机制，例如辅助面板破裂，局部后面板分层引起的屈曲和前面板剥离。对于室温和低温条件，CAI损坏模式和故障位置的类型明显不同。这项研究的结果得到了新提出的分析模型的支持，该模型使用基于断裂力学的概念预测CAI性能。这项工作显然表明，在低温条件下，夹芯复合材料的破坏耐受性大大降低。