Development of cost effective personnel armour through structural hybridization

The objective of the present study is to develop cost effective thermoplastic hybrid laminate using Dyneema® HB50 and Tensylon®HSBD 30A through structural hybridization method. Laminates having 20 mm thickness were fabricated and subjected to 7.62 × 39 mm mild steel core projectile with an impact velocity of 730 ± 10 ms^?1. Parameters such as energy absorption, back face deformation and rate of back face deformation were measured as a function of hybridization ratio. It was observed that hybrid laminate with 50:50 ratio (w/w) of Tensylon® and Dyneema® with Tensylon® as front face showed 200% more energy absorption when compared to 100% Tensylon® laminate and showed equal energy absorption as that of expensive 100% Dyneema® laminate. Moreover, hybrid laminate with TD50:50 ratio showed 40% lower in terms of final back face deformation than Dyneema® laminate. Rate of back face deformation was also found to be slow for hybrid laminate as compared to Dyneema® laminate. Dynamic mechanical analysis showed that, Tensylon® laminate has got higher stiffness and lower damping factor than Dyneema® and hybrid laminates. The interface between Tensylon® and Dyneema® layers was found to be separating during the penetration process due to the poor interfacial bonding. Failure behaviour of laminates for different hybridization ratios were studied by sectioning the impacted laminates. It was observed that, the Tensylon® laminate has undergone shear cutting of fibers as major failure mode whereas the hybrid laminate showed shear cutting followed by tensile stretching, fiber pull out and delamination. These inputs are highly useful for body armour applications to design cost effective armour with enhanced performance.