PSI - Issue 71

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ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 71 (2025) 395–400

5 th International Structural Integrity Conference & Exhibition (SICE 2024) Ballistic Impact Analysis of Carbon Fiber and E-glass Sandwiched Composites Gaurish S. Vaze * , Vedang S. Gogate, Mohit S. Lele, Ananya S. Sastry, Siddhant Amrutkar, Atharva Bapat, Vishal G. Salunkhe

Department of Mechanical Engineering, “Agnel Charities” Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Technology, Vashi 400703, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India .

Abstract Throughout so many years, humans have used lots of methods to protect themselves with armors from bullets and projectiles using structures made from wood, metals, etc. However, these traditional protective measures are inconvenient as well as lesser in efficiency, so to overcome these problems now-a-days there has been a shift towards composite materials which are lighter and have resistance towards corrosion. Studying the effect of ballistic impact on these composite materials is crucial for their application in the military, aerospace, and automotive sectors. The present investigation focuses on the fabrication of the specimen (made with Carbon fiber and E-glass) and analysing behavior of it under ballistic impact as well as studying parameters related to ballistic impact testing viz. the velocity of the projectile.

© 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of SICE 2024 organizers

Keywords: Ballistic impact; Composites; Carbon fiber; E-glass.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91-9326232405 E-mail address: gaurishvaze@gmail.com

1. Introduction Composite materials are subjected to various loading conditions, and their use in protective structures requires strong resistance to ballistic impact. Understanding key parameters such as projectile velocity, penetration conditions, and post-impact strength is essential. Ballistic impacts are classified as low, high, or hypervelocity, with resistance depending on both velocity and material properties. For applications in defense, aerospace, and automotive industries, ballistic impact analysis of composites is crucial. The ballistic limit velocity and energy absorption capacity of material are the important factors for the design of these protective structures [1]. Ballistic limit is defined as the speed of a projectile that penetrates the armour plate without any residual velocity [2]. In this investigation, E-glass laminate and Carbon fiber composites were fabricated using the vacuum bagging process. Ballistic impact testing was conducted by firing a flat-headed cylindrical projectile at the laminate and measuring deformation. Analytical methods were used to calculate projectile velocity, while simulations were performed in ANSYS Workbench to obtain deformation data. Experimental tests and visual observations supported the results. The study aims to evaluate the ballistic impact response of Carbon fiber-Epoxy-E-glass sandwich composites and analyse velocity parameters through both analytical and experimental approaches.

2. Fabrication Process

2452-3216 © 2025 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of SICE 2024 organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.08.053