Investigation of the ballistic impact behavior of 2D woven glass/epoxy/nanoclay nanocomposites

In this paper, a theoretical model to investigate the ballistic impact behavior of two-dimensional woven glass/epoxy/nanoclay nanocomposites is presented, developed on the basis of dividing of the impact duration into several time intervals and calculation of the energy absorbed during each time interval. The major components of energy lost by projectile during ballistic impact were identified, namely the primary yarns tensile failure energy, the secondary yarns deformation energy, the cone kinetic energy formed on the back face of the target, the delamination of layers of nanocomposite and the matrix cracking. Ballistic tests were performed by a flat-ended projectile by a gas gun. Finally, a good correlation has been observed, comparing the theoretical model presented in this paper to the experimental results.