Development of high performance ballistic armor from varied fiber reinforced polybenzoxazine composites

In this research, a hard ballistic armor based on fiber reinforced polybenzoxazine/polyurethane (PBA/PU) composite as human body armor was developed to protect the 7.62×51 mm projectile at a velocity of 847±9.1 m/s according to National Institute of Justice at test level III. The hard armor consisted of two main panels, i.e., strike panel to destroy the tip of projectile which was made from glass fiber reinforced PBA composite and absorption panel from aramid fiber reinforced PBA/PU composite to absorb impact energy. It was found that S glass composite exhibited a greater performance than E glass composite having the same number of plies. Synergistic behaviors in tensile properties and energy absorption at test level II and III-A were observed from aramid fiber reinforced PBA/PU having 20wt% of PU content. The hard ballistic armor using S glass fiber reinforced PBA composite backed by aramid fiber reinforced PBA/PU composite having 20wt% of PU content could resist the penetration from 7.6251 mm for up to six shots. Moreover, the failure mechanisms in the composite were dominant by fiber failure, matrix cracking and delamination. From finite element technique, the ballistic limit of the developed hard ballistic armor against 7.62×51 m/s was as high as 930 m/s. Such high performance and light weight ballistic armor is a potential candidate to be applied as a human body armor