Implementation of lightweight, low cost polymerik composite materials processing technologies and development of composite lightweight armor materials for military applications.

The Aim, the Signaficance, and the Expected Outcomes of the Project:
     Fiber reinforced polymer composites are exhibiting a fast development in various industrial areas such as automotive, marine, transportation and civil infrastructure and in military applications. Light-weight composite armor (armored vehicle, body armor and helmets) and many automotive parts (bumpers, body parts such as fender, doors and radiator) may be given as examples of polymer composite applications in industry.

The objectives of the proposed research are:

1. Development of scientific base for processing of polymer based composite materials.

2. Design of composite structures for industrial applications considering national material resources to use as composite constituents.

3. Implementation of Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Moulding (VARTM) technique and processing of composite panels to develop light-weight armor material to use in defence applications.

4. Testing the performance of the designed materials under various environments and loading conditions.

5. Support implementation of the new technology through industry.

    Composites offer superior properties such as light-weight, longer life-cycle (durability under water, chemical, etc. environments), and high performance (high strength, impact and ballistic resistance, damage tolerance) as compared to traditional materials such as metals and wood . There is a lack of knowledge and experience in our country on the development and processing of these type of materials. In the proposed research, polymeric composite processing technology will be implemented by utilisation of (Vacuum-Assisted Resin Transfer Molding, VARTM) technique.

    In defence applications, there is high demand to reduce the weight of the armored vehicle or body armor materials. Polymer based light-weight multi-functional composites are the new technological materials that can serve for this purpose. In this project, impact and ballistic resistant, multi-layered hybrid composites will be designed through utilisation of VARTM technique. Design of this multi-functional composites will yield affordable, damage tolerant, light-weight armor materials. It is critical to elucidate microstructure-performance relationships in the mentioned armored material systems. The effects of the microstructure on the performance of the material will be investigated within the proposed research.