Numerical Study on Ballistic Impact Performance of Hybrid Thermoset Composites Subject to Multi-Bullet Hits

A numerical study on ceramic/thermoset (hybrid) composite bulletproof armour against AK-47 bullets was carried out to find a suitable hybrid composite to stop the projectile. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the ballistic impact performance of three different ceramics such as silicon carbide, boron carbide and aluminium nitride were analysed. In the second phase, a ceramic/thermoset (hybrid) composite was chosen by varying the thickness of the three thermoset (glass-epoxy, carbon-epoxy and kevlar-epoxy) composite back plate and by performing multi-bullet hits. This numerical study was done using the FE package Abaqus/Explicit by implementing the user-material subroutine VUMAT. Penetration depth and the absorption of kinetic energy were evaluated to find the suitable material for the armour. The residual velocity of individual bullets was assessed after the impact of multiple bullet hits. Silicon carbide as a face plate and carbon-epoxy as a back plate were found to be the best hybrid composition for the body armour.