Effect of Panel Construction on the Ballistic Performance of Multiply 3D through-the-Thickness Angle-Interlock fabrIc Reinforced Composites

• Main Authors: Shengnan Min, Yuan Chai, Yanyan Chu, Xiaogang Chen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-01-01
• Series: Polymers
• Subjects: textile composites; ballistic performance; X-ray CT; 3D woven fabric; delamination
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/11/2/198

This paper studied the ballistic performance of 3D woven angle-interlock fabric reinforced composites with different types of panel construction. Two types of composites P10B and P17C were designed to have the same areal density of around 12 kg/m² although they both had different ply areal densities and consisted of different numbers of plies. Non-perforated ballistic impacts were conducted on the two types of panels under the same level of impact energy. Post-mortem examination on the non-perforated panels was conducted through the cross-sectional images, planar projected delamination and 3D damage volume extracted from the non-destructive tests. Three distinctive sections of damage were segmented from the non-perforated panels, each indicating different material failure modes upon impact. Under the same areal density, the coarser composite panel P10B with a larger ply areal density and fewer reinforcement plies would result in less damage. The damage volume of P10B is nearly one-third that of the P17C. The findings are instructive for the design of 3D woven fabric continuously reinforced composites with doubly-curved shapes.