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A generalized analytical formulation is presented for the prediction of ballistic impact behavior of 2D woven fabric composite laminates impacted with a rigid cylindrical projectile. The formulation is valid for a wide range of laminate thicknesses. The formulation is based on stress wave propagation and energy balance between the projectile and the composite target. During the ballistic impact event, the energy lost by the projectile is absorbed by the target through various damage and energy absorbing mechanisms such as compression of the target directly below the projectile, compression in the region surrounding the impacted zone, shear plugging, stretching and tensile failure of yarns/layers in the region consisting of primary yarns, tensile deformation of yarns/layers in the region consisting of secondary yarns, conical deformation on the back face of the target, delamination, matrix cracking, and friction between the projectile and the target. The formulation presented considers both shear plugging and tensile failure during conical deformation. Solution procedure for the evaluation of ballistic impact performance is presented. Experimental validation is performed on the ballistic impact behavior of two types of composite specimens: 2D plain weave E-glass/epoxy and 2D 8H satin weave T300 carbon/epoxy. Typical results on ballistic limit velocity and energy absorbed by various mechanisms are presented.

Experimental studies are presented on the ballistic impact behavior of nanoparticle dispersed materials viz. symmetric balanced cross-ply laminates made using unidirectional E-glass fabric with epoxy resin and neat epoxy resin. The nanoparticles used are nanosilica and multi-walled carbon nanotube for polymer matrix composites and nanosilica for epoxy resin. For comparison, studies are carried out on symmetric balanced cross-ply E-glass/epoxy and neat epoxy resin without nanoparticles. Effect of nanoparticle dispersion on ballistic limit velocity, V50 and energy absorbed has been studied. It is observed that V50 can be enhanced up to 6.3% for polymer matrix composites and up to 7.3% for neat resin on addition of nanoparticles. Also, energy absorbed can be increased up to 13.0% for polymer matrix composites and up to 15.2% for neat resin on addition of nanoparticles. Damage and energy absorbing mechanisms for different types of materials studied is also presented. Further, it is observed that the damage size on the target around the point of impact decreases on addition of nanoparticles. Quantitative data are given for high velocity impact behavior of the five types of specimens studied.

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