A Study on Impact Resistance of Glass Fibre Reinforced Vinylester Composites against ballistic Projectiles

Abstract

Glass fibre reinforced vinylester laminates show very high impact resistance, the charpy impact strength measuring upto 576 kJ/m'. Void-free laminates prepared from E-glass fibre-reinforcement and vinylester resin. matrix combined with resin bonded alumina sheets as facing have been subjected to high velocity impact of 7.62 mm bullets fired from a distance of 10 meters. Glass fibre and Kevlar-29 fibre reinforced vinylester laminates with a thickness less than 10 mm (areal density - 14.24 kg/ 111'.) have been tested against 1.1 g fragment simulated projectiles (FSP) in the form of steel balls and 9 mm carbine fire. The laminates thus tested withstood the bullets without any bulge at the back. The possible mechanism of the hyper velocity impact resistance of the FRP laminates has been discussed.