Experimental and Modeling Study on Ballistic Impact Behavior of a Woven Carbon/Epoxy Composite

Abstract

Textile composites are becoming more and more popular in armor application due to their lightweight and excellent impact resistance properties. In this paper, we investigate the ballistic impact behavior of a plain-weave carbon/epoxy composite experimentally and numerically. The impact test is conducted using a gas gun system with a cylindrical projectile. The damage phenomena and impact tolerance of the composite plates are examined under various impact velocities (220~360 m/s). An analytical approach is developed based on energy equilibrium and information of fracture pattern. It predicts the impact threshold velocity in a reasonable accuracy and the profile of residual impact velocity after penetration. On the other hand, finite element model is developed to model the damage behavior of the composite plate. The results described the progressive failure process and predicted the fracture area in both the front-side and backside of the composite panel. Overall, the presented analytical and numerical models correlate well with the experimental results. They are useful for further investigation on the quantitatively analyzing the energy absorption and failure mechanisms.