Study on ballistic characteristics of glass-epoxy-rubber sandwiches

Abstract

This article focuses on the Finite Element (FE) analysis of the ballistic performance of the polymer composites. These composites consisting of natural rubber (NR), glass-epoxy (GE) and glass-rubber-epoxy (GRE) sandwich of different thicknesses (3, 6 and 9 mm) under the impact of the conical nose projectile for a velocity variation of (180, 220 and 260 m / s). FE modeling was carried out to forecast the energy absorption, ballistic limit velocity and failure damage mode of the target material. The significant influence of thickness, interlayers and sandwiching effect was studied: the lowest ballistic limit was obtained for 3 mm thick GE. The energy absorption capacity of GRE sandwich was highest among the natural rubber and GE. The work can be extended for the experimental validation purpose so that these polymer composite materials could be utilized in the defense sector for bullet-proofing. � 2020 Trans Tech Publications Ltd, Switzerland.