Research On Bulletproof Armor Of High Performance Fiber Reinforced Resin Matrix Composites

The reinforced fiber materials used in this study are S-glass fibers,UHMWPE fibers Aramid 1414 fibers and Heterocyclic aramid fibers.The resin systems are Polyolefin resin,waterborne polyurethane resin,vinyl ester resin and phenolic epoxy resin.The armor plates manufactured by pressing curing process were used to investigate the effects of fiber mechanical performance,fiber and resin types,hybrid structure,reinforcement architecture and bullet types on the ballistic performance of composite armor plate through the bullet proof tests.Afterwards,the observation of the patterns for the surface and inner surface of bullet holes together with the shock wave mechanism were used to analysis the damage and bulletproof mechanisms of composite armor plate when penetrated by bullets.It is shown from the results that:There is a positive correlation between the ballistic performance of UHMWPE reinforced PO resin matrix composite armor plate and the stress and modulus of UHMWPE fiber.However,the influences of fiber modulus on the ballistic performance are gradually decreased with the increase of the fiber modulus.For WPU resin matrix,the ballistic performances of the four kinds of fiber from high to low are UHMWPE fiber,Heterocyclic aramid fiber,Aramid1414 fiber and S-glass fiber.The ballistic performance of thermosetting resin matrix composites can be improved by the toughness modification of the thermosetting resin.The ballistic performance of composites armor can also be enhanced by the hybridization of high performance fibers and it is superior to that of the individual fiber reinforced composite armor.For Aramid 1414 fiber and UHMWPE fiber hybrid composite armor,the highest ballistic performance is achieved when the UHMWPE fiber reinforced composite are front surface.The ballistic performance of the three reinforcement architectures from high to low is:UD,3D interlock and 2D plain weave architecture.The penetration performance of the steel core bullet is superior to that of lead core bullet.For the lead core bullet,the larger of the bore,the lower of the penetration.Along with the direction of the bullet penetration,the fiber fractured morphologies of S-glass fiber reinforced waterborne polyurethane composite armor plates are fiber shear,plugging and tensile failure.Both the fractured morphologies of the UHMWPE and Aramid 1414 fiber reinforced composites are fiber shear plugging on the front surface,after tensile deformation fiber shear and pull-out in the interior of the armor plates and fiber tensile failure and lamination of armor plate on the rear surface.The fiber tensile deformation is the main fracture mode.The bullet proof mechanism of the high performance fiber reinforced resin composite armor plates is the consumption of the kinetic energy of the bullet through the tensile deformation of the high performance fibers.