Experimental analysis of high velocity impacts of composite fragments

This work analyses the impact against a rigid plate of carbon epoxy fragments. Experimental tests have been performed by means of a gas gun capable of launching rectangular pieces of composite laminates at a wide range of impact velocities (from 70 to 180 m/s). The impact process has been recorded using three high speed video cameras which allowed to analyse the phenomenon and to obtain the deceleration of the fragment and hence the force-time history and impulse induced on the plate. The failure process of the impacted fragments has been studied to identify the main absorption mechanisms and based on that a simple analytical model is proposed in order to predict the erosion and the impact force.