DEVELOPMENT OF POLYPROPYLENE THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITE HARD ARMOR PANELS

摘要

The demand for hard armor panels in both military and civilian applications has increased significantly over the last four years. Lighter weight, higher performance and lower cost are the focus of current and future end users. New high performance thermoplastic composites materials are providing solutions that are comparable in performance to both traditional "E" and "S" glass materials. This paper will discuss the background and development of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) matrix composite panels for hard armor applications. Thermoplastic Composites simplify the manufacturability from the process material handling and production environmental standpoint. In addition, these materials provide unique characteristics in terms of post formability and recycling. The hard armor marketplace has presented new challenges and opportunities for composite materials with a variety of different applications.