Deformation behavior of single and multi-layered materials under impact loading

Abstract

Finite element (FE) simulations using Abaqus/Explicit are performed to study the deformation behavior of materials under impact loading. Various configurations including monolithic and multi-layered plate having combinations of ceramic, metal and composite material layers are investigated to determine the critical failure velocity Vcf as a function of layer thickness and stacking. While cylindrical impactor is assumed to be rigid, Johnson-Cook (JC), Johnson-Holmquist (JH2) and Hashin 3D and Puck criteria is used to characterize damage/ failure in metal (Al and steel), ceramic (SiC) and composite (carbon fiber/epoxy) layer respectively. Constitutive equations for composite material are supplied via user subroutine VUMAT. The results of FEM simulations reveal that Ceramic-Al-Carbon fiber/epoxy multilayer plate provides most desirable combination with higher critical failure velocity, lower average density, lower pressure and displacement at the back plate as compared to other material combinations considered in this work. Moreover, the analysis presented shows that the numerical approach developed can be used as a tool to predict the geometry and material combinations of a multilayer system to improve its resistance against impact loading.