Impact damage of laminated composite with energy dissipation: Part II — Damage evolution

Abstract

Having developed the methodology for analyzing the failure of a ceramic/rubber/steel composite laminate impacted by a tungsten rod in Part I, Part II of the work is concerned with the progressive damage process where material continuity would be interrupted at different locations and time intervals. Depending on the time rate dependent threshold values of the surface and volume energy density, the degree and extent of damage by fragmentation, mass loss, etc. are determined by finite element calculations for time steps of 0.15, 5.0, 7.5, 10, 20, 21 and 21.5 μs. Stresses and strains possess an oscillatory character in time; they alternate in sign as the impact waves bounce back and forth in the three-layered dissimilar materials. Local strain rates of approximately 10 5, 10 3 and 10 4 s −1 are formed in the ceramic, rubber and steel layer respectively at locations underneath the tungsten rod after 16 μs of impact. A more wide range of strain ratio would have prevailed for a homogeneous layer of the same thickness. The tungsten rod is now badly fragmented while cracking near the surface of the ceramic is also predicted. Local temperature and dissipation energy density rise rapidly as time approached 20 μs. The maximum surface and volume.energy density in the ceramic near the impact region reached 260 MPa · m and 6.39 MPa, respectively. Complete disintegration of the tungsten rods occurred at 21.5 μs. At this time, the ceramic layer is perforated and the rubber layer is partially cracked. The back-up steel plate, however, remained in tack. These predictions agree qualitatively with past observations.