Improving Ballistic Performance of Polyurethane Foam by Nanoparticle Reinforcement

Abstract EN

We report improving ballistic performance of polyurethane foam by reinforcing it with nanoscale TiO2 particles.

Particles were dispersed through a sonic cavitation process and the loading of particles was 3 wt% of the total polymer.

Once foams were reinforced, sandwich panels were made and impacted with fragment simulating projectiles (FSPs) in a 1.5-inch gas gun.

Projectile speed was set up to have complete penetration of the target in each experiment.

Test results have indicated that sandwich with nanophased cores absorbed about 20% more kinetic energy than their neat counterpart.

The corresponding increase in ballistic limit was around 12% over the neat control samples.

The penetration phenomenon was also monitored using a high-speed camera.

Analyses of digital images showed that FSP remained inside the nanophased sandwich for about 7 microseconds longer than that of a neat sandwich demonstrating improved energy absorption capability of the nanoparticle reinforced core.

Failure modes for energy absorption have been investigated through a microscope and high-speed images.