Shock propagation behaviour and determination of Gruneisen state of equation for pultruded polyester/glass fibre-reinforced composites

Polyester fibres reinforced with glass fibres hybridised polyester resin composite (PFR/GFHC) is a unconventional complex high-molecular weight crosslinked network polymer composite. This novel composite can be used in the manufacture of structural body parts for lightweight vehicles, armour vest for body protection as well as armours for vehicles. For body armour applications, it is important to determine the dynamic behaviour of PFR/GFHC during high velocity impact. In this work, we propose a method of calculating Gurneisen parameter from the measured Hugoniot in shock velocity - particle velocity of polyester based composites product by high velocity actuated nail gun impact. Several high-velocity impacts were conducted on pultruded plates using a power actuated nail gun with different cartridges and varying nail sizes. The experimentally measured Hugoniot in shock velocity - particle velocity space was determined as Us = 2.872 + 1.22Up ((rho)0 = 1.25 g/cc) and low gradient observed for Gruneisen parameter as calculated from measured Hugoniot against V-0/V shows higher shock absorption of PFR/GFHC for impact velocity.