Impact perforation characteristics of carbon/carbon composite laminates

An impact test system is constructed by incorporating a digital imaging system including an ultra-high speed camera into a gas gun type impact machine in order to estimate and/or predict the perforation characteristics of advanced ceramic matrix composites. High velocity impact tests are conducted on carbon/carbon cross-ply laminates and also the perforation process of the laminates struck by a steel ball projectile is observed. Combination of analytical models with impact test results and high speed photographs leads to simple semi-empirical expressions for estimating/predicting the perforation characteristics of this materials, which are found to be very successful.