Enhanced Damage Tolerance of Metal‐Mesh‐Embedded Thermoplastic Composites Repaired via Induction Healing

ABSTRACT

Thermoplastic composites (TPCs) have considerable potential for structural repair owing to their meltability and resolidification; however, efficient on‐site repair strategies remain insufficiently explored. This paper presents that embedded metal meshes were employed as induction‐heating elements in TPC structures to achieve structural reinforcement and thermal repair. Specifically, two strategies were proposed: in situ repair (IR) for laminates with pre‐embedded mesh, and patch repair (PR) applied to mesh‐containing TPC patches. The effects of heating duration and patch configuration were systematically investigated. Compression after impact (CAI) tests were conducted under different repair conditions to reveal damage evolution and failure mechanisms as well as quantify strength recovery efficiency. The results show that both strategies repair matrix damage and interlaminar delamination, optimize the CAI failure path, and thereby enhance the CAI strength. For IR specimens, increasing the heating duration from 10 to 30 s significantly improved damage tolerance at low impact energies of 10–30 J, whereas the improvement was limited at 40 J due to severe fiber damage. Compared with single‐sided PR specimens, double‐sided ones not only exhibit a more stable failure mode but also maintain superior CAI strength of 49.1 MPa and recovery efficiency of 80.9% under the highest impact energy of 70 J.