Abstract
Ballistic damage of hybrid woven-fabric composites made of plain-weave E-glass- fabric/epoxy and 8H satin-weave T300 carbon-fabric/epoxy is studied using a combination of experimental tests, microstructural studies and finite-element (FE) analysis. Ballistic tests were conducted with a single-stage gas gun. Fibre damage and delamination were observed to be dominating failure modes. A ply-level FE model was developed, with a fabric-reinforced ply modelled as a homogeneous orthotropic material with capacity to sustain progressive stiffness degradation due to fibre/matrix cracking, fibre breaking and plastic deformation under shear loading. Simulated damage patterns on the front and back faces of fabric-reinforced composite plates provided an insight into their damage mechanisms under ballistic loading.
Highlights
Woven fabric-based polymer-matrix composites (PMCs) are finding an increased use in defencerelated applications thanks to their high strength and stiffness and ability to produce structures with tailored shapes and mechanical properties
The finite-element models of ballistic-impact on studied composite laminates were validated using experimental measured ballistic limit velocity (V50) and analytically calculated energy absorbed by a laminate
The ballistic limit velocity (V50) was assessed for the same thickness of laminates, impactor geometry and mass to provide an assessment of their relative performance
Summary
Woven fabric-based polymer-matrix composites (PMCs) are finding an increased use in defencerelated applications thanks to their high strength and stiffness and ability to produce structures with tailored shapes and mechanical properties. Naik and Doshi [2] reported on ballistic-impact behaviour of typical woven-fabric E-glass/epoxy thick composites employing an analytical approach and found that shear plugging was the major energy-absorbing mechanism in these laminates. Simulating the mechanical behaviour of a fabric-reinforced composite structure under ballistic impact is a challenging task.
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