3D Woven Composites for New and Innovative Impact and Penetration Resistant Systems (MSC P1T05-114)

The objective of the work proposed herein is to develop innovative methodologies and techniques for the use of 3D woven composites with enhanced structural and ballistic characteristics for wide ranges of armor and structural applications. A family of 3Dintegrally woven composites, which utilizes multi-axial weave designs, have been examined and analyzed in the Phase I study. These innovative 3D composites have been shown to provide improved ballistic capacity over the traditional 3D braided composites.The Phase I study also show that properly designed through the thickness reinforcements can significantly improve the through the thickness properties as well as reduce the propagation of delamination commonly induced by severe lateral impact, and thus cangreatly enhance the ballistic damage tolerance of composite structures. The Phase II effort will deliver a number of innovative panel designs utilizing integrally woven fiber architectures for enhancement of structural survivability under variousballistic threat conditions. The proposed material concepts will be evaluated by using sound dynamic analytical methods for assessment of ballistic impact damage and post-impact performance. Design and fabrication of a ceramic/composite system will beconducted to demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing the 3D woven composites for multi-material, multifunctional armor application. This approach will provide products with a variety of protection levels for the ballistics armor market. Applicationswill include both military and civil markets. The military market includes light, medium and heavy armored vehicles, breacher vehicles for mine sweeping, personnel carriers, amphibious assault vehicles, surface ships, logistic shelters, body armor andaircraft components. The civil market includes armored police vehicles and armored bank cars.