4.2.

2 Ply arrangement, sequence and orientation in the ballistic target

Making good ballistic protective targets not only depends on materials which possesses both strong and low density
fibres for better ballistic protection, but also it depends on both protective and lightweight. Therefore, other than
developing an improved fibre, different approaches with the given materials will be also a solution for crafting more
protective and lighter ballistic targets. Ply arrangement, continuity, sequence and orientations in the ballistic panels
were some of the important parameters to improve the ballistic performance [117][305][306].

Beside experimental, virtual testing provides an efficient and inexpensive means of systematical study on the
influence of various architectural and material parameters against ballistic impact behaviour of material before
actual prototypes are designed and destructively tested [307]. In the hybrid ballistic panel development, arrangement
of protective material in the face and back strike is very important. In one of the study, the laminating sequence was
found an important parameter in improving the ballistic performance of STF impregnated fabric hybrid multilayer
panels not only in terms of the BFS value but also the ballistic limit and bullet expansion [277].

Besides, at a fixed thickness of the hybrid composite armour, stacking sequence of hybridized layer shows
significant effect on the ballistic performance [300]. The effects of layer stacking sequences on the behaviour of E-
glass fibre reinforced composite hybridized with a layer of Kevlar 29 fibre under high velocity impact were studied
by placing the Kevlar layer at four different locations.
3
The results clearly reveal that hybridization improves the laminates performance under dynamic penetration.
Another experimental followed by an analytical investigations to study the behaviour of E-glass fibre reinforced
composite hybridized with a layer of Kevlar 29 fibre under high velocity impact were carried out. While
experimental investigations, the Kevlar layer was placed at four different locations to verify the effects of the
stacking sequence on the impact behaviour.

Besides, three different projectile geometries, namely, flat-ended, hemispherical and conical were used. The
experimental results reveal that hybridization improves the laminates performance under dynamic penetration [308].
One of the studies has also examined the effect of layering sequence of unidirectional (UD) and woven fabric hybrid
panels on the perforation resistance (V50) and the blunt trauma resistance against a 5.56mm fragment-simulating
projectile and .44 Magnum semi-jacketed hollow point projectile respectively [309].

The improved perforation resistance was achieved when a neat woven fabric was placed behind a larger in-plane
constraint of either UD or STF-impregnated woven fabric layers due to the reduced out-of-plane constraint. In
contrary if the neat woven fabric were placed in front of a larger in-plane constraint of either UD or STF-
impregnated woven fabric layers an increase in blunt trauma resistance (i.e. smaller BFS) was observed due to its
better coupling of yarn elongation in the frontal and rear layers.

The effects of ply orientation on the deformation and energy absorption capabilities of multi-ply various woven
fabric panels construction with angled plies as shown in Fig. 27 (a) was numerically examined [310]. The model
was simulated considering impact velocity, panel construction and the number of plies, and its numerical prediction
revealed that the plies orientation and stacking sequence significantly affects the energy-absorbing capacity of the
multi-ply fabric panels.

For example, the energy-absorbing capacity of multi-panels with more angle always shows better values
compared to aligned panel as shown in Fig. 27 (b) and (c). For example, depending on the number of plies, in the
panel the angled panels shows as much as 20% than aligned panels. Concerning the effects of stacking sequence,
there is an optimized sequence of plies for achieving maximum energy-absorbing capacity of the panel.

As shown in Fig. 27 (d), the numerical prediction was also validated by the experimental study. Moreover, ply
orientation and layering sequence of plies with different laying angles against ballistic impact performance of the
multi-ply fabric panels also shows that, angled multi-ply panel gives a significant improvement in energyabsorbing
capacity over aligned panel. Specifically, depending on the number of plies, the angled fabric panels showed a 14%
increase of impact energy absorption over the aligned counterpart and the optimized stacking sequence of the angled
plies gives a 15% increase in impact energy absorption than the other sequences [224].
Another experimental study on the effect of number of plies against ballistic performance of Kevlar49/UHMW
(ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene) layered-hybrid composite according to NIJ 0101.04 Level-III standards
which were carried out. The study was explained in terms of trauma depth, energy absorption capacity and
perforation display. According to the result, the critical number of ply for Kevlar49/ UHMW layered hybrid
composite was 16 plies which consisting of 8 plies for each fabric type. Moreover, as plies number in the panel
increases, trauma depth and energy absorption capability of the layered-composite has been also decreases and
increased respectively [5].

The combined effects of both ply orientations and material properties on impact performance of multi-layered, non-
stitched woven aramid fabrics using 2- and 4- sided clamping conditions were numerical simulated (LS-DYNA).
The individual ply was oriented on 0, ±15, ±30, and ±45 and functionally graded progressively increases or
decreases the yarn stiffness. While impacting each target with both nonpenetrating and penetrating impact velocity,
the 2-sided clamped targets and lower inter-yarn frictional levels generally resulted in better impact performance.

Moreover, the graded targets showed either similar or inferior impact performance than the baseline fabric target
configurations for the non-penetrating shots [307]. The FEA simulation of effects of both thickness and stacking
sequence of GLARE 5 (2024-T3 aluminium alloy unidirectional S2-glass/epoxy) fibre–metal laminated (FML)
plates subjected to ballistic impact shows that, for a given specimen thickness/stacking-sequence, by increasing the
projectile incident velocity up to its V50 value, the maximum contact force increased.

By further increasing the projectile velocity above its V50, the maximum contact force was relatively invariant with
respect to an increase in the projectile incident velocity [311]. Besides, the effects of arrangement of protective
material using UD aramid fabric, Polyethylene (PE) and laminated woven aramid fabric to develop flexible and
comfortable hybrid protective materials were examined against work of rupture, young's modulus, bursting strength
and penetration stroke at bursting of the materials in order to arrange the material in the face and back strike of the
panel.

The increasing of work of rupture enables energy absorbing mechanisms and the materials with high work of rupture
enable to absorb energy to predict the arrangement of the layers before shooting [312]. In order to see the different
angled ply-orientation effect on ballistic performances and failure mechanism of multi-ply UHMWPE fabric panels,
3-ply align-laid [0/0/0] and angle-laid [0/30/60] UHMWPE plain woven fabric panels were numerically examined
by selecting the projectile energy loss, panel energy absorption, panel failure time, and the stress distributions.

Based on the simulation result, the angle-laid panel is more energy absorbent than the align-laid until the impact
velocity reaches a certain level. Moreover, critical velocity were found for 3-plies fabric panels, and under this
velocity the enhanced inter-ply isotropy in the angle-laid panel contributes to the improved energy absorption,
whereas above this critical velocity, the angle laid panel is found prone to initial stress concentration, leading to yarn
premature damage on the rear ply of the panel and thus the disappearance of the advantages of the angle-laid panel
[160].

The analytical model for the ballistic impact behaviour of 2D woven fabric composites with n number of layers
without bonding and clamped boundary condition against flat-faced cylindrical projectiles based on conservation of
momentum and wave theory shows that, the ballistic limit for constant number of layers, when increasing layer
spacing would decrease but reduction will be stopped after a specific distance between layers.

Besides, considering each to have plain weave with linear-elastic mechanical properties, further increases in the gaps
between layers did not have any effect on the performance of the armour [25].