The ballistic impact characteristic of sandwich panel consisting of Kevlar woven fabric and hexagonal aluminium honeycomb

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Title: The ballistic impact characteristic of sandwich panel consisting of Kevlar woven fabric and hexagonal aluminium honeycomb
Author(s): Wong, Vat C.; Ruan, Dong; Vikneswaran, Thayalan; Van, Xun
Abstract: This study reports the ballistic performance of sandwich panel consisting of Kevlar 129 woven fabric and hexagonal aluminium honeycomb (HAH). The enhancement of Kevlar woven fabric in HAH sandwich panel further strengthens the sandwich panel especially in ballistic tests. Kevlar woven fabric showed extensive pull out (rupture of yarns) when less than 6 layers of fabric impacted by ballistic projectile at a velocity of 293 m/s. Sandwich panel consisting of 6 layers of Kevlar woven fabric incorporated with aluminium honeycomb showed no pull out when impacted by a ballistic projectile at a velocity of 312.5 m/s. However, when sandwich panel arrangement was in the following order: 1 layer of HAH, 3 layers of Kevlar woven fabric, 1 layer of HAH, 3 layers of Kevlar woven fabric and a final layer of HAH, Kevlar woven fabric pull out was observed when impacted by a ballistic projectile at a velocity of 277.8 m/s. This indicated that the ballistic projectile was impacting on 3 layers of Kevlar woven fabric (followed by another 3 layers of Kevlar woven fabric) at a time instead of 6 layers of Kevlar woven fabric based on the arrangement of the sandwich panel. The overall sandwich panels for both arrangements had the same amount of materials but one failed the ballistic test and the other passed. One possible reason behind the improved ballistic test is that the areal density of Kevlar woven fabric is the highest when the layers of Kevlar woven fabric are assembled together. Therefore, it is crucial to have ballistic projectile entrapped within the Kevlar woven fabric layers before prioritising the arrangement of sandwich panel.
Publication type: Conference paper
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences
Source: Paper presented at the 6th Australasian Congress on Applied Mechanics (ACAM 6), Perth, Western Australia, Australia, 12-15 December 2010
Publication year: 2010
FOR Code(s): 091202 Composite and Hybrid Materials; 091299 Materials Engineering not elsewhere classified; 091399 Mechanical Engineering not elsewhere classified
Keyword(s): Aluminium honeycomb; Ballistic impact performance; Ballistic protection; Energy absorption; Kevlar woven fabric; Sandwich panels
Publisher: Engineers Australia
Publisher URL: http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/
Publisher URL: http://www.acam6.org/
Peer reviewed