Investigation on the anti-penetration performance of ud - a three-dimensional orthogonal woven fabric composite reinforced structure

A uni-direction (UD) laminate and three-dimensional (3D) orthogonal woven fabric made of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) are used as main reinforced units combined with aluminum alloy plates to form a reinforced sandwich structure. Penetration tests are carried out on four composite reinforced structures with different structure forms by a 7.62 mm steel core projectile. The target plate size is 150 mmx150 mm. Besides, Ansys/LS-Dynasoftware is applied to simulate the penetration process, and the simulation results are in good agreement with the test results. All the results demonstrate that with the same total thickness of UD laminates, 20 mm UD laminates have better penetration resistance than four 5 mm UD laminates. The less the number of UD laminates, the better anti-penetration performance of the overall structure. The 3D orthogonal woven fabric has the advantage of spatial integrity, which can effectively restrain deformation of laminates and absorb energy behind UD laminates, so as to obtain better anti-penetration performance. In the core structure with a total thickness of 28 mm, when the thickness ratio of 3D orthogonal woven fabric is between 30% and 35%, the protection ability and lightweight requirements of the sandwich structure can be better considered.