In response to the research demand for the impact resistance of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates commonly used in aircraft, spherical fragment penetration and static blast tests were conducted on T800/3200 CFRP laminates, with CT scanning technology and damage assessment theories employed for further analysis. The damage characteristics and performance of T800/3200 CFRP laminates under two typical loads-fragment penetration and explosive shock waves-were investigated and compared with 2024-T3 aluminum, a material widely used in the aviation manufacturing industry. Two control groups were established: tungsten fragments impacting aerospace aluminum plates and tungsten steel fragments striking CFRP laminates. Impact velocities and residual velocities were precisely measured using high-speed photography. During fragment penetration tests, relationships among incident velocity, residual velocity, and energy absorption were analyzed based on the Recht–Ipson ballistic limit model. The internal damage morphology of CFRP targets was examined in detail using high-resolution CT scanning technology to characterize delamination patterns and progressive failure across different depths and plies. In blast tests, the damage morphology and maximum deflection of target plates were systematically observed and recorded. The blast resistance of CFRP laminates and aluminum plates was quantitatively compared using advanced mathematical methods incorporating boundary condition equivalence and overpressure equivalence principles to ensure a fair and accurate comparison. The results show that, after spherical fragment penetration, the T800/3200 CFRP laminate generates a delamination damage zone resembling a truncated cone, with the volume of the cone decreasing as the penetration velocity of fragments increases. The T800/3200 CFRP laminate exhibits inferior performance against fragment penetration compared with aerospace aluminum but offers significantly enhanced blast resistance. This characteristic makes it more effective in maintaining structural safety and aerodynamic stability during flight missions under explosive threats. The findings provide theoretical and empirical support for improving the safety and reliability of aerospace vehicles through optimized material selection and structural design.

With the deterioration of the natural climate, hail impact has become a threat that cannot be ignored by civil aircraft. To study the hail impact damage characteristics of high-performance carbon fiber composites used for civil aircraft, we first investigated the impact force characteristics of ice spheres under high-speed impact through experiments, and the impact force time history curves of ice spheres under different speeds were obtained using an air cannon test system. At the same time, to make the speed range of the ice sphere more extensive, some existing experiment data were introduced as a comparison to obtain the linear growth relationship between the peak impact force and the kinetic energy of the ice sphere. Subsequently, a single ice sphere impact test was conducted on the T800/3200 carbon fiber composite laminates. It was found that the concave of the front core damage area forms a 45° angle with the boundary of the target plate, which is related to the carbon fiber layup mode, and the damage degree depends on the initial speed of the ice sphere. To further quantify the relationship between the damage degree of the laminate and the kinetic energy of the ice sphere, ultrasonic C-scanning was used to obtain the damaged area of the target plate, and the damage percentage was extracted by software analysis. The results show that the percentage of internal interlayer delamination increases linearly with the kinetic energy of the ice sphere. After that, repeated impact tests of ice spheres were carried out on the target plate with the same thickness, and as expected, the macro damage degree increased with the number of impacts. Finally, the front and back surfaces of the composite laminates were completely delaminated, resulting in a large number of fibers being pulled out and displaying a penetrating through-thickness damage pattern. The deflection of the center point of the target plate was selected as the quantitative damage index, and according to the data analysis of the measured results, it was found that there is a quadratic relationship between the deflection of the center point of the carbon fiber plate and the accumulated kinetic energy of the ice sphere. The apex of the parabola can well reflect the accumulated kinetic energy required for the target plate penetration.