Ballistic Impact Behavior of 3D Hybrid Composite Laminates

This paper presents a numerical study of damages of hybrid basalt/Kevlar polypropylene composites under high velocity impact. The numerical results are carried out using the user-defined subroutine (VUMAT) to predict the residual velocity of the different composite laminates (K3H3, H3K3, H3-16 and K3-16) with different lay-ups of plies. The comparison has been done on 3D basalt/Kevlar woven fiber hybridization and Kevlar/polypropylene laminates impacted with 9 mm full metal jacket bullet. The energy absorbing capacity and ballistic limit velocity of the composite panels have been evaluated at different velocities. The high velocity impact with different circumstances is numerically simulated and reliability of the model is verified. The results are compared with the literature results presenting good agreements. As hybridization of basalt with Kevlar fibers, the ballistic limit impacting with 9 mm FMJ is not enhanced if compared to pure Kevlar laminates, but natural fibers over synthetic fibers have found better response due to less expensive and better mechanical properties in the field of research.