The effect of hybridization on the GFRP behavior under high velocity impact

In the present study, experimental and analytical investigations for the behavior of E-glass fiber reinforced composite hybridized with a layer of Kevlar 29 fiber, under high velocity impact, were performed. The experimental work includes the placement of the Kevlar layer at four different locations to verify the effects of the stacking sequence on the impact behavior. Three different projectile geometries, namely, flat-ended, hemispherical and conical were used. The experimental results reveal that hybridization improves the laminates performance under dynamic penetration. The results also indicate that the laminates response was found to be highly sensitive to the projectile geometry. In the case of analytical modeling, two energy models were conducted to calculate the projectile residual velocities. The results obtained from the two models were compared with those obtained experimentally and some conclusions were drawn. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.