Performance of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Plates Against Impact Loading

Abstract

The carbon-fiber laminated composites are widely used in various industrial sectors due to their magnificent mechanical and engineering properties. While designing the structures of strategic importance, the impact perforation study and prediction of impact performance of such composites are of utmost importance. This work basically concentrates on two major areas of impact perforation study, determining impact perforation characteristics and understanding the perforation process. The objective has been achieved through experimental as well as numerical investigations. Microstructural analysis have also been carried out to understand different energy-absorbing mechanisms. The pneumatic gun setup is utilized to fire the projectile. In addition, square-shaped carbon fiber laminates and projectiles are modeled in ABAQUS/Explicit. The carbon fiber laminates of different thicknesses and layup sequences are impacted with three different types of projectiles. The cross ply, angle ply and quasi-isotropic layup sequences are considered in this study. The conical, blunt and ogive nose with caliber radius head (CRH) 1.5 projectiles are modeled as analytical rigid. Hashin criteria are adopted to replicate the behavior of carbon fiber laminates. The experimental and numerical calculations are compared and are found to be in good agreement. The different perforation features are calculated and the influence of ply orientations, thickness, projectile shape and impact velocities on the performance of targets against impact are discussed. An efficient and better laminate configuration under various ballistic conditions has been sought.