An Innovative Experimental Approach for the Assessment of Composite Panel Ballistic Limit

In this work, the effect of high-velocity impacts on carbon/epoxy tape quasi-isotropic laminates is studied. This research aims at developing an experimental protocol-based Digital Images Correlation (DIC) method to determine the ballistic limit with only one test in a flat panel. Experimental tests were carried out at two different impact angles. The residual velocity and the damaged area are used to evaluate the effect of the kinetic energy of the projectile on the laminate response. In addition, it has been proposed as a simplified analytical approach which allows identifying the different energy absorption mechanisms in the composite panel.