Investigation of the Ballistic Performance of GFRP Laminate under 150 m/s High-Velocity Impact: Simulation and Experiment.

Fengyan Chen,Zhixiang Liu,Yong Peng,Chao Chen,Kui Wang,Xuanzhen Chen

doi:10.3390/polym13040604

Fengyan Chen, Zhixiang Liu + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13040604

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Abstract

The ballistic resistance of GFRP laminates subjected to high-velocity impact was studied. Based on the damage situation of GFRP laminate observed from the single-stage gas gun testing, the three-dimensional (3D) model combining strain rate effect and Hashin failure criterion was established, and the result presented good agreement between the simulation and experiment. Three factors, including layer angle, stacking sequence and proportion of different layer angles, were taken into consideration in the models. An orthogonal test method was used for the analysis, which can reduce the number of simulations effectively without sacrificing the accuracy of the result. The result indicated a correlation between the ballistic resistance and layouts of GFRP laminates, on which the stacking sequence contributed stronger influence. What was more, the laminate with layer angles 0°/90° and ±45° presented greater ballistic resistance than the other angle pairs, and adopting an equal proportion of different layer angles is helpful for GFRP laminates to resist impact as well.

Highlights

Possessing high specific strength and high specific modulus in the fiber direction, and high strength-to-weight ratios compared to traditional materials [1,2], composite materials are increasingly used in the areas of aerospace [3,4], transportation and construction [5,6] and gradually becoming a well-known topic
They found that the laminate with a 0/90◦ layout showed a better ballistic resistance and failure strain change with different fiber directions, whereas the impact behavior of the fiber mental laminate (FML) under normal and oblique impacts were discussed by Chen et al [22], and they found that the lowest ballistic limit was observed when the impact angel was 30◦
The element failure deletion occurred in the center of the laminate within the first few layers; the damage shape of the simulation was similar to the experiment results

Summary

Introduction

Possessing high specific strength and high specific modulus in the fiber direction, and high strength-to-weight ratios compared to traditional materials [1,2], composite materials are increasingly used in the areas of aerospace [3,4], transportation and construction [5,6] and gradually becoming a well-known topic. Researchers have carried out many high-speed impact studies of composite materials through experiments and simulations. Sikarwar et al [21] studied the effects of fiber orientation and thickness on the ballistic limit and energy absorption of laminates by high-velocity impact experimentation. They found that the laminate with a 0/90◦ layout showed a better ballistic resistance and failure strain change with different fiber directions, whereas the impact behavior of the fiber mental laminate (FML) under normal and oblique impacts were discussed by Chen et al [22], and they found that the lowest ballistic limit was observed when the impact angel was 30◦

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Conclusion