Ballistic impact behavior of woven ceramic fabric reinforced metal matrix composites

• The effect of weave architecture on the impact response of metal matrix composites is investigated.
• Damage mechanisms during dynamic loading of woven fabric reinforced MMC are determined.
• An elastic–plastic orthotropic material model is developed to model ballistic impact of MMC.

In this paper, the effect of weave architecture on the ballistic impact response of woven fabric metal matrix composites (MMC) is investigated. The ballistic limits, V50BL, of four different composites are experimentally determined and post impact characterization is used to investigate the damage mechanisms active during dynamic loading. Numerical modeling implementing an elastic–plastic orthotropic material model with hydrostatic pressure dependent yield surface is used to model the pressure dependent response of the MMC during impact to predict the ballistic limit, and to offer insight into the damage mechanisms occurring during dynamic loading of woven fabric reinforced MMC. The correlation between laterally constrained compression testing and ballistic performance is investigated for use as a screening tool to enable rapid evaluation of the relative ballistic performance of potential fabric MMC weave and composite designs as a potential alternative to full scale ballistic testing. It was found that the fabric architecture has significant effect on ballistic performance and through thickness shear strength of the MMCs. It was found that 3D woven MMC is 13% and 40% lower in terms of ballistic limit and through thickness shear strength respectively, than its 2D counterpart. Furthermore, the numerical results successfully predict the ballistic limit of a 2D fabric reinforced MMC within 6% of the experiment and are used to qualitatively elucidate the experimentally observed damage mechanisms.