Reduction of Impact Damage in KFRP through Replacement of Surface Plies with Glass Fabric Plies

The surface ply on each side of an angle ply KFRP laminate was replaced by a balanced ply of glass fabric to study the impact induced damage. The laminates were impacted by a stainless steel projectile accelerated through an air gun. The replacement of surface plies reduced the projected impact damage for incident impact energies greater than 6.5 J per mm thickness of the laminate. Delamination damages on individual interfaces, studied through the technique of the thin slice method, were observed to be reduced considerably on all the interfaces. The presence of the glass fabric ply suppressed the spalling at the rear interface drastically.