Simulation of CFRP/aluminum foam sandwich structure under high velocity impact

To profoundly reveal the protective performance of CFRP/aluminum foam sandwich structure, the high-speed impact simulation models of CFRP, aluminum foam and their sandwich structures are built by ABAQUS/Explicit module. The VUMAT user material subroutine is written for CFRP panel, and Hashin damage criterion is introduced. The elastic constitutive model and macro modeling method for the aluminum foam are chosen. The impact process under different working conditions is numerically simulated and the reliability of the model is verified by one-stage light gas gun loading experiment at the corresponding simulation conditions. At the same time, the protective performance of CFRP/ aluminum foam sandwich structure under different steel projectile shapes, impact velocities and impact angles (the angle between the ballistic and the target normal line) are simulated. The results show that the Mises stress nephogram of CFRP panel is peanut-like with obvious directivity. The stress wave propagates fastest in the direction perpendicular to the fiber. In the impact velocity range of 172−450 m/s, with the increase of impact velocities, the loss of kinetic energy will increase, but the increase of kinetic energy loss will decrease with the increase of impact velocities, and the contact force between the projectile and the sandwich structure will also increase. Thus the sandwich structure will have more serious delamination and fiber breakage, which will consume more kinetic energy. When the velocity of the projectile is greater than 300 m/s, the impact capability of the sandwich structure tends to the upper limit of impact capacity. In the impact velocity range of 170∼300m/s, the sandwich structure has stronger protective performance than ball-nosed projectile when the flat-nosed projectile impact, and the difference of the residual velocity between the two kinds of projectiles is larger. The shape of the projectile has a great influence on the protective performance of the CFRP/ aluminum foam sandwich structure. When the impact velocity is greater than 300m/s, the residual velocities of the two kinds of projectiles are almost the same, and the shapes of the projectile have a gradual effect on the performances of the CFRP/ aluminum foam sandwich structure. The anti-shock performance of sandwich structure under oblique impact is stronger than that of vertical impact. With the increase of impact angles, the transverse deformation of sandwich structure increases, and the anti-shock performance of sandwich structure also increases.