Herringbone-Bouligand CFRP structures: A new tailorable damage-tolerant solution for damage containment and reduced delaminations

In this work, we design, prototype, test and analyse the first high-performance Herringbone-Bouligand microstructure (with Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP)) inspired to the high-impact-resistant mantis shrimp's dactyl club. To this end, we devised the first prototyping procedure to manufacture point-by-point tailorable Herringbone-Bouligand CFRP microstructures; this was based on the micro-moulding of uncured CFRP prepreg, and led to mimicking features of the club microstructure never achieved before with CFRPs. We investigated the damage tolerance of the prototyped Herringbone-Bouligand CFRP laminates, compared against ‘classical’ Bouligand CFRP laminates, using quasi-static indentation tests. Our test results show that the Herringbone-Bouligand microstructure resulted in delayed onset of delaminations, reduced in-plane spreading of damage, increased energy dissipation capability, and in the containment of damage within the tailored Herringbone-Bouligand region. We conclude that Herringbone-Bouligand CFRP microstructures offer an excellent tailorable damage-tolerant solution with great potential for composite applications where resistance to through-the-thickness loads is paramount. [Display omitted] •First high-performance Herringbone-Bouligand microstructure (with CFRP).•Novel micro-moulding technique to design tailorable composite solutions.•The Herringbone-Bouligand laminates achieved highly reduced (71%) delamination damage.•Damage successfully contained within the tailored Herringbone-Bouligand region.•Herringbone-Bouligand shown to be more damage-tolerant than classical Bouligand.