An experimental and numerical investigation on ballistic performance of advanced composites

Abstract

In this study, ballistic performance of aramid/epoxy and carbon-aramid/epoxy hybrid composites is investigated, experimentally and numerically. These composites were manufactured by vacuum-assisted resin infusion molding technique. 7.62 M61 type AP (Armor Piercing) projectiles were used in ballistic test of advanced composite materials. Six different impact velocities measured by a laser velocity measurement system were selected. Residual velocities were measured by velocity measurement traps from the back surface of the tested samples. For numerical study, ANSYS software was used as the pre-processor and LS-DYNA was used as the solver. Three different numerical models were created. After performing experimental tests and numerical simulations, ballistic limit velocities were calculated based on energy conservation. Numerical results are compared with the experimental ones and good agreements are obtained.