Experiment study of basalt fiber/steel hybrid laminates under high-velocity impact performance by projectiles

Due to their excellent impact resistance, fibre-metal laminates have been successfully applied in modern engineering industries, the construction of aircraft, vehicles, and ships. In this study, a ballistic impact test was performed on a basalt fibre/steel hybrid laminate using a 19 mm diameter steel ball fired by a one-stage gas gun. This is to analyse how lay-up structure, fibre volume fraction, laminated surface density, and laminate impact angle influence the ballistic impact performance. The results showed that, under normal penetration action, the ballistic limit velocity values for laminates with different lay-up structures were 3/2, 2/1 and 4/3 respectively, from high to low lay-up. For the 3/2 lay-up structure, when the fibre volume fraction increased, the ballistic limit velocity decreased, and when laminated surface density was increased, the specific energy absorption also increased, after the projectile penetrated the target plate. The results of the oblique penetration experiment showed that energy loss improved with penetration angle.