Study of the Ballistic Impact Behavior of Protective Multi-Layer Composite Armor

The abalone shell, a composite material whose cross-section is composed of inorganic and organic layers, has high strength and toughness. Inspired by the abalone shell, several multi-layer composite plates with different layer sequences and thicknesses are studied as bullet-proof material in this paper. To investigate the ballistic performance of this multi-layer structure, the complete characterization model and related material parameters of large deformation, failure and fracture of Al₂O₃ ceramics and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) are studied. Then, 3D finite element models of the proposed composite plates with different layer sequences and thicknesses impacted by a 12.7 mm armor-piercing incendiary (API) are built using Abaqus to predict failure. The simulation results show that the CFRP/Al₂O₃ ceramic/Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE)/CFRP (1 mm/4 mm/4 mm/1 mm) composite is the optimized stack of layers. The simulation results under specified layer sequence and thickness have a reasonable correlation with the experimental results and reflect the failure and fracture of the multi-layer composite protective armor.