Finite element study on the influence of fiber orientation on the high velocity impact behavior of fiber reinforced polymer composites

This study investigates the applicability of carbon and glass-based hybrid fabric reinforced polymer composites for ballistic applications due to their high specific strength, corrosion and impact resistance properties. The high velocity impact response of glass and carbon fiber-epoxy composites have been numerically investigated using ANSYS LS-Dyna simulation tool. The effect of reinforcement-fiber orientation on the impact response of composites was studied. Furthermore, hybrid and non-hybrid fiber reinforced polymer composites consisting of forementioned reinforcement fabrics were modelled to study the effect of fabric hybridization on the impact behavior of such composites. The results indicated that the cross-ply orientation (0/90) offers better resistance against impacts by hemispherical ended projectile of 9 mm diameter compared to other orientations and thus absorb more impact energy. The stacking of carbon fabric sandwiched between glass fabric layers was the optimum hybrid sequence to resist high velocity impacts at 373 m s⁻¹ and absorb higher impact energy compared to other stacking sequences considered in this study. These hybrid composites are thus found to be ideal for sacrificial structural components to protect other sensitive installations as they are found to withstand impacts at velocities up to 127 m s⁻¹ and are also cost-effective.