HYPERVELOCITY IMPACT RESPONSE OF STITCHED CFRP LAMINATES
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abstract
In this study, hypervelocity impact experiments were performed on both unstitched and through-thickness Vectran-stitched laminates. Both laminate types were fabricated from DMS-2436 class-72 warp-knit multiaxial carbon fabric, infused with API-1078 resin using a Controlled Atmospheric Pressure Resin Infusion (CAPRI) process. The laminates were impacted by 4 mm diameter, spherical, Nylon 6/6 projectiles at nominal velocities of 4 km/s using a two-stage light gas gun. The primary measures of the performance of the composite at protecting against impact were in plane hole damage areal comparisons and the comparison of the target back-face debris cloud (BFDC) velocities relative to the incoming projectile velocities. Additional post-shot forensics include characterization of damage morphology and analysis of high-speed videos. Initial inferences about the damage produced in the laminate indicate that the Vectran stitching can effectively arrest in-plane damage propagation; impacts at or near a stitchline resulted in no damage propagation across the stitchline boundaries.
