Defence Technology xxx (2018) 1e13

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Defence Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dt

Ballistic impact properties of woven bamboo- woven E-glass-

unsaturated polyester hybrid composites
Aidy Ali a, *, Rabiatun Adawiyah a, Kannan Rassiah b, Wei Kuan Ng a, Faiz Arifin a,
Faiz Othman a, Muhammad Shauqi Hazin a, M.K. Faidzi a, M.F. Abdullah a,
M.M.H. Megat Ahmad a
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) National Defense University of Malaysia
(NDUM), Kem Sg. Besi, 57000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politeknik Port Dickson (PPD), KM 14, Jalan Pantai, Si Rusa, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, a laminated woven bamboo/woven E glass/unsaturated polyester composite is developed to
Received 16 July 2018 combat a ballistic impact from bullet under shooting test. The aim of this study is to understand the
Received in revised form fundamental effects of the woven bamboo arrangement towards increasing ballistic resistance proper-
28 August 2018
ties. The work focusses on the ballistic limit test known as NIJ V50, which qualifies materials to be
Accepted 4 September 2018
Available online xxx
registered for use in combat armor panels. The results show that the composites withstood 482.5 m/s ± 5
limit of bullet velocity, satisfying the NIJ test at level II. The findings give a strong sound basis decision to
engineers whether or not green composites are qualified to replace synthetic composites in certain
Keywords:
Woven bamboo
engineering applications.
E glass © 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
Hybrid composites creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Ballistic limit velocity
Energy absorption

1. Introduction America, the role of bamboo in construction industrial and

Natural fibers are generally obtained from animal, plant, or
mineral sources. The development of fiber composites using plants
has attracted interest. Bamboo is especially of interest as the fiber is
ecofriendly and helps in fixing carbon dioxide. These characteristics
have made bamboo an important plant fiber, with a high growth
rate and availability. About 1000 species of bamboo grow abun-
dantly in South America and Asia [1]. Sustainable and recyclable
composite materials from the utilization of bamboo are obviously
in high demand from consumers and industry due to excellent
performance.
Bamboo is a fast-growing, perennial, abundant bio-resource
belonging to Barbusse, a genus under Gramineae. Researchers
have increasingly developed their expertise by applying many
types of different materials from bamboo fibers to generate high
end quality sustainable industrial product. In Asia and South
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: saidynaidy@gmail.com (A. Ali).
Peer review under responsibility of China Ordnance Society
component has been stimulated by widespread availability in the
tropical and subtropical climate regions. Fast growth and combi-
nations with other raw material have developed composites with
high mechanical strength and low specific weight. The replacement
of natural fibre composites for synthetic fibre reinforced plastics
has grown significantly due to lower cost and improved sustain-
ability, which includes both advantages and disadvantages [2]. The
structural community has great interest in natural-based rein-
forced composites, as they offer good mechanical properties,
recyclability, and environmentally-sustainable production and use.
Since 2015, bamboo composites have become new green ma-
terials that are widely used and explored by researchers. A review
on thermomechanical behavior of bamboo is detailed in
Refs. [3e8]. In 2014, Kannan et al. [7] successfully mapped the
mechanical properties of bamboo in 3 dimensional views that
allowed researchers to evaluate the most maximum performance
of bamboo parts in term of mechanical properties. Later, the
research explores on developing bamboo in form of strips then
make them into woven to produce a layer of bamboo [9e12].
Moreover, Kannan and Aidy et al. [13] successfully study the per-
formance of these bamboo composites in dynamic properties that

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dt.2018.09.001
2214-9147/© 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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2 A. Ali et al. / Defence Technology xxx (2018) 1e13
is call fatigue and fracture of the bamboo. Such information is vital
to allow engineers to decide whether or not to apply bamboo
composites in their engineering components, especially as a new
construction material.
There has been tremendous improvement in the design of bal-
listic protective materials, which have been in use from time im-
memorial. Developments in the technology of manufacturing high
performance fibers and production processes have enabled the
production of light weight body armor with improved protection
levels. Such composites and fabrics have been a good replacement
for modern armor material in place of high-density metals and
alloys. Body armor is designed to protect the human torso by pre-
venting penetrating threats and internal damage. The actual per-
formance of armor is measured in terms of the interaction between
the armor and human torso. The effectiveness of armor against
non-penetrating threats also should be considered in this case.
Modern body armor can be classified as either hard body armor
or soft body armor. Categories of body armor can be differentiated
in terms of material. Hard body armor has greater protection level
compared to soft body armor. A hybrid system consists of layers of
ceramics and fabrics bonded together and serves the specific pur-
pose of preventing projectile penetration. Hard body armor mostly
used by law enforcement officers and military personnel as it offers
high level of threat protection. However, soft body armor is greatly
preferred as it provides adequate protection and is more flexible
when moving [14]. Designing a ballistics materials from composites
are now becoming more popular because of its promising results
and achievements [27]. Very limited work on ballistic was reported
and the recent study by Renato Batista da Cruz et al. [28] success-
fully developed and characterized a giant bamboo fiber reinforced
epoxy composite for multilayer ballistic armor. It was reported the
performance increase 22% compared with aramid fabric.
In this study, woven bamboo has been combined with woven E
glass fiber to combat the ballistic impact of bullets. The aim of this
study is to understand the correlation and fundamental effects of
the woven bamboo arrangement towards increasing the ballistic
limit of a green bamboo composites. The work is focusses on the
ballistic limit test known as V50 and NIJ that qualifies materials for
use in combat armor panels or materials. The measurement and
testing of ballistic limit on other natural woven can be studied in
Ref. [15]. There has been numerous work on ballistic properties of
hybrid composites of synthetic fibers. However, there are limited
work reported on measurement of ballistic limit on natural fibers.
However, none of the reported work has performed measurements
of the ballistic limits of woven bamboo composite. This study
provides the ballistic limits of hybrid woven bamboo/woven E
Glass. The failures modes of the shooting damage are also analyzed.
2. Materials
The materials used in this study are “unsaturated polyester”
(UP) as the matrix material and “Woven bamboo fiber” (WB) and
‘Woven E-Glass fiber’ (WEG) as the filler fiber. The mechanical
properties of fabrics are strongly influenced by the warp and weft.
Dense fabrics tend to have higher bending, shear and tensile ri-
gidity. In this study, for the woven bamboo using combination of
Weft (30 thread/cm) and Warp (60 thread/cm) and for the E Glass
using combination of Weft (40 thread/cm) and Warp (66 thread/
cm).
2.1. Unsaturated polyester
The matrix system consists of Reversol P-9509 unsaturated
polyester (UP) supplied by the Synthomer (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
Company. Reversol P-9509 has a specific gravity of 1.12 at 25
C, a
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viscosity of 450e600 cps, a volumetric shrinkage of 8%, and an acid
value of 29e34 mg KOH/g for the solid resin. This type of resin is a
rigid, minimally reactive, and thixotropic general-purpose
orthophthalic unsaturated polyester resin. It is easily pre-
promoted for an ambient temperature cure with the addition of
methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) as the catalyst. Additionally,
it is conveniently workable in hand lay-up applications and offers
easy air release.
2.2. Bamboo
The bamboo species used in these tests was Gigantochloa
Scortechinii (Buluh Semantan), collected from Kampung Bukit Lar-
ang in Malacca, Malaysia. Bamboo plants were cut into lumber strip
fiber parts using a cleaver and a hand saw. The strips were cut by
knife to thicknesses of 1.5 mm, then woven into a fabric (see Fig. 1).
The reason for using 1.5 mm thicknesses was previously described
in Ref. [9].
3. Fabrication of composites
The materials, including woven bamboo (WB), woven E-glass
(WEG) and unsaturated polyester (UP), were used to fabricate
woven Bamboo/woven E-glass hybrid composites. Two different
layer configurations of Bamboo/E-glass/UP hybrid composite were
fabricated. Table 1 shows the configurations and properties of the
developed composites.
The layering process of WB, WEG and UP was divided into three
stages. First, woven bamboo was dry in a MEMMERT BASIC Uni-
versal Oven-UFB 400e500 at 60
C for 6 h to reduce moisture to
strengthen the adhesion between unsaturated polyester resin. Af-
ter 6 h of heating, the average moisture content of strips of woven
bamboo reached about 20%.
Then, WB and WEG were subjected to the hand lay-up process
to form laminate. WEG was laminated with its respective layers
according to the specified configuration, followed by lamination of
WB with its respective layers. Before lamination, WB and WEG
were cut squares with dimensions of 300 mm  300 mm. Then, 6
WB and 9 EG were weighted separately to obtain their respective
weights. The weights of 6 WB and 18 WEG are shown in Table 2.
After obtaining the weight of fibers, the amount of unsaturated
polyester (UP) needed to produce Woven Bamboo/Woven E-glass/
UP hybrid composites can be determined. Total weight of UP
needed are sum of 200% of total weight of woven bamboo and 60%
of total weight of Woven E-glass. Hence, for each configuration of
Woven Bamboo/Woven E-glass/UP hybrid composites as shown in
Fig. 1. Woven-fabric laminated bamboo.
 A. Ali et al. / Defence Technology xxx (2018) 1e13
Table 1
Configurations and properties of bamboo/E-glass/UP composite.
Types of layer arrangement Number of layers of each material
*WB ¼ Woven bamboo
*EG ¼ E-glass
WB/EG 4/18
EG/WB/EG 9/4/9
Table 2
Weight of fiber.
Types of fiber Quantity of layer Total weight/kg
Woven bamboo 4 0.329
Woven E-glass 18 0.591
Table 2, 1.0126 kg of UP is needed.
Then, the PVC film was placed on the flat table. Then, a release
agent, Silicon, was used to spray the surface of PVC film in order to
ease the removal of laminate composite after the lamination pro-
cess is done. UP type Reversol P-9509 is then mixed with methyl
ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP) with the weight ratio of 100 UP:1
MEKP. They were stirred until the color of mixture changed from
light white to clear yellow. After that, the mixture was brushed in
one direction onto the PVC film. Then, a piece of woven E-glass was
placed immediately on top of the PVC film. The mixture was once
again brushed in one direction on the woven E-glass. The process
was repeated for several layers of WEG as needed in the configu-
ration described in Table 2. After lamination of WEG, WB was
placed on top of the piled up laminated layer of woven WEG and
brushed with the mixture in one direction. The process was
repeated for the 6 layers of WB. The above process was repeated for
several layers of woven bamboo and WEG. The final step was to
place a 10-kg load on the composite and store the composite at
room temperature for a period of 24 h to allow gelling and curing to
progress. After 24 h, the load was removed and the WB/WEG/UP
hybrid composites were formed. Fig. 2 (a) to (d) illustrate the
fabrication process of WB/WEG/UP hybrid composites with con-
figurations of 6 BW and 18WEG.
4. Ballistic limit testing (V50)
The ballistic limit test for laminated WB/WEG/UP hybrid com-
posites was experimentally determined using standard equipment
in Kompleks Persenjataan Pusat Sains Dan Teknologi Pertahanan
Bahagian Teknologi Persenjataan, STRIDE Batu Arang. This section
provides details of the equipment and methods in this testing.
4.1. Test gun
Testing used 9 mm test barrel (PROTOTYPA) test gun as shown
in Fig. 3. The purpose of using a test gun rather than a normal
mounted gun is because it gives precise results for shooting.
4.2. Bullet
The 9 mm bullet is the commonly-used round fired from pistols
and sub machine guns. In this ballistic test, the bullets used
weighed of 7.45 g as depicted in Fig. 4.
According to level IIIA standard of National Institute of Justice
(NIJ 0101.06), the rifles utilized were 357 Magnum JSP and 9 mm
FMJ. All jacket materials were mostly made up of copper alloy
consisting of 90% copper and 10% zinc with lead cure that alloyed
together with hardening material. The projectiles were shoot
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3
Total layers Dimension (length*width*height)/mm
22 300*300*18
22 300*300*18
accordingly to the recorded speed in the NIJ standard as summa-
rized in Table 3.
4.3. Velocity measurement device
To measure the velocity of the bullet, 2  Portable PRO CHRONO
velocity devices were used. The first device was placed at 2.67
from the test gun while the second device is then placed at 0.78 m
from the target in accordance to the standard as shown in Fig. 5. All
setup was performed to ensure that the ballistic limit test is
perform successfully as shown in Fig. 5. According to the V50
standard for armor, the mounting fixtures, frame support and
clamps must be able to retain the sample and withstand the shock
resultant due to the ballistic impact of test projectiles. The sample
was capable of being adjusted in the vertical or horizontal di-
rections to make it easy to locate the point of impact anywhere on
the sample.
4.4. Shooting test procedure for V50
The test targets were assembled and measured according to the
test range configuration in the 0101.06 NIJ Standard (see Fig. 5). A
test round was fired through the paper behind the frame after
replacing the witness plate to determine the exact point of impact.
Additional rounds were fired as required until the proper alignment
and a stable striking velocity were achieved. A 9 mm bullet was the
first firing was loaded with certain striking velocity and either
complete penetration or partial penetration were established.
After obtaining 6 complete penetrations and 6 partial penetra-
tions, sample 1 (18 layers of Woven Bamboo and 4 layers of Woven
E-glass) was replaced with Sample 2 (9 layers of E-glass, 4 layers of
Woven Bamboo and 9 layers of Woven E-glass).
5. NIJ test
The NIJ standard impact test was conducted using a single stage
gas gun to propel the projectile through a long panel 4 m and 9 mm
in diameter, as shown in Fig. 6. There are four main parts to the
single stage gas gun apparatus, the gun barrel, a pressure reservoir,
the catch chamber and the computer software system. The gun
barrel was designed as a long cylindrical vessel of 4 m length,
ensuring that the projectile slides through and shoots the target.
The barrel has a very smooth interior surface in order to reduce
friction with projectiles. The gas gun used compressed helium gas
to fire the projectile. The velocity of the projectile was controlled by
the gas pressure. Nine samples for each testing condition were
considered to ensure good data repeatability. The gas gun was
connected to a ballistic data acquisition system.
The target with dimensions 100  100 mm was placed at square
iron frame with circular hole uphold tightly to be tested. Nuts and
bolts clamped the frame to prevent the specimen from moving out
of the impacted targets. The impacted signal was calculated to
include the velocity of projectiles obtained by means of measuring
the time interval for the projectiles passing through reference
point. First, the pressure was set to 151 bar, which is considered the
highest pressure with maximum volume of helium gas in the tank.
4 A. Ali et al. / Defence Technology xxx (2018) 1e13

Fig. 2. Laminating process.

Then, the tests were repeated with pressures of 140 and 130 bar 6. Results and discussion
three times to obtain the average velocity. Having performed the
test, the failure of the developed composites can be seen obviously 6.1. V50 ballistic velocity results
using naked eye. To make the image clearer, a stereo microscope
was used to magnify the failure and damage on the specimen. The ballistic limit or V50 is commonly defined as a 50%

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with increments for an expanding number of ballistic tests [19]. It is

Fig. 3. Test gun for shooting.
probability of penetrating a target that given impact velocity. It is an
average from the highest partial penetration and complete pene-
tration of velocities. The amount of propellant for different impact
velocities has been determined through an empirical method by
adjusting the mass of the propellant. As indicated by US MIL-STD-
662F, V50 might be ascertained by taking the arithmetic mean of
equal number of highest partial and lowest complete penetration of
impact velocities. The ballistic limit velocity (V50) was estimated
during experimental data on the basis of whether the projectile
penetrated the hybrid composite either completely or partially. It is
the most broadly perceived apparatus to determine the ballistic
execution of a material, for instance, precision of the estimation,
a generally utilized rule for surveying the effectiveness of defensive
layer.
The results of the shooting tests were collected to determine the
ballistic limit for 18 layers of Woven Bamboo and 4 layers of Woven
E-glass (4:18 WB:WEG); and 9 layers of E-glass, 4 layers of Woven
Bamboo, and 9 layers of Woven E-glass (9:4:9 WEG:WB:WE-
G),respectively. The results for (4:18 WB: WEG) are tabulated in
Table 4.
Table 4 shows the outcomes of up-and-down firing of V50 bal-
listic limit for 18 layers of Woven Bamboo and 4 layers of Woven E-
glass (18:4 WB:WEG). The amount of propellant for various effect
velocities was resolved through an experimental method by
adjusting the mass of the propellant, which is the explosive mass.
The propellant fills for the shots and next shot were adjusted until
at least three partial penetrations and three complete penetrations
were achieved [l8]. The first velocity was tested higher than
reference velocity of 390 m/s. According to the V50 Ballistic Test for
body armor [40], the first striking velocity must be above the base
prerequisite. The outcome acquired from the first firing of velocity,
390 m/s, was partial penetration, followed by the second strike,
359 m/s and third of striking velocity, 470 m/s consisting of the
same explosive mass. The sample still produced a partial penetra-
tion result when the velocity was increased to 470 m/s, with a
weight of explosive mass of 0.41 g for the next firing. However, at a
velocity of 480 m/s with 0.50 g, perforation occurred through the
sample. Thus, complete penetration was obtained.
The velocity was increased to 488 m/s with diminishing explo-
sive mass to 0.48 g, which indicated partial penetration on the

Fig. 4. Bullet use for Test.

Table 3
NIJ standard 0101.06 PeBFS performance test summary [16e18].

Test variables
Armor type Test round Test bullet Bullet weight Reference velocity/(m$s1)
I 1 .22 Caliber LR 2.6 g 329
LRN 40 gr
2 .380 ACP 6.2 g 322
FMJ RN 95 g
IIA 1 9 mm 8.0 g 341
FMJ RN 124 gr
2 40 S&W 11.7 322
FMJ 180 gr
II 1 9 mm 8.0 g 367
FMJ RN 124 gr
2 .357 Magnum 10.2 g 436
JSP 158 gr
IIIA 1 9 mm 8.2 g 436
FMJ RN 124 gr
2 44 Magnum 15.6 g 436
SJHP 240 gr
III 1 7.62 mm NATO 9.6 g 838
FMJ 148 gr
IV 2 .30 Caliber 10.8 g 869
M2 AP 166 gr

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Fig. 5. Setting up of the sample.

Fig. 6. The gun barrel with high speed camera.

sample. In order to obtain complete penetration again, the velocity
was increased to 498 m/s along with increasing weight of 0.49 g.
The bullet managed to penetrate the 18 layers of WB and 4 layers of
WEG successfully. By utilizing a similar speed but decreasing mass
by just 0.05 g, complete penetration once again occurred. The ve-
locity was decreased to 490 m/s, 486 m/s and 484 m/s along with
the decreasing of weight of 0.483 g, 0.48 g, and 0.47 g, respectively.
The complete penetration results were recorded all throughout the
sample. For the last shot, the velocity was decreased to 477 m/s and
finally partial penetration was obtained.
By taking at the velocity of 488 m/s and 477 m/s, the average
velocity obtained was 482.5 m/s ± 5 m/s. The average obtained is
the value of limitation for (18:4 WB:EG). This gives the ballistic
limit of this materials. The value obtained is in the range between
the velocities where penetration occurred. Therefore, the limitation
of (18:4 WB: WEG) can be found at a value of 482.5 m/s ± 5.
The results of (9:4:9 WEG: WB: WEG) sample are tabulated in
Table 5. For the 9 layers of E-glass, 4 layers of Woven Bamboo and 9
layers of Woven E-glass (9:4:9 WEG: WB: WEG) result, only 8
striking velocities managed to undergo the firing test. This is
because the sample failed and reached the limitation of integrity.
The sample could not withstand the high impact of projectiles. In
the first firing at a velocity of 454 m/s with the weight of explosive
mass of 0.41 g, complete penetration occurred. The velocity was
reduced to 365 m/s, 421 m/s, and 417 m/s and partial penetration
was successfully obtained. However, when the velocity was
increased to 476 m/s with value of explosive mass at 0.45 g, com-
plete penetration occurred. The striking velocity again was reduced
to 441 m/s and 428 m/s with weight values of 0.40 g and 0.39 g,
respectively. The tests resulted in complete penetration. With the
similar velocity but lower weight of 428 m/s and 0.385 g, partial
penetration was obtained.
The velocity at 421 m/s and 417 m/s were calculated to deter-
mine the approximate average of velocity which valued at 414.5 m/
s ± 5. The average velocity was determined from the velocity where
partial penetration has occurred. The ballistic resistant limitation of
(9:4:9 WEG: WB: WEG) configuration was found in the range of
414.5 m/s ± 5.
6.2. NIJ test results
Impact and absorbed energy are two primary parameters used
to evaluate the ballistic impact properties of hybrid composite in
agreement with the NIJ 0101.06 standard. The test specimens of
10  10 cm of laminated hybrid Woven Bamboo/Woven E-glass fi-
ber were subjected to ballistic impact in order to evaluate the
compressed gas gun impact data measurement capability. The
impact velocity of a projectile highly influences the performance of
the protective systems [20]. According to Ridhwan et al. [21], a
couple of components influence parameters such as the projectile
and target geometry, the strike velocity and energy and the impact
angle of the projectile toward the target area. Some of these vari-
ables are examined in this section. Fig. 10 shows the shooting
experiment in which the bullets hit the target.
In this test, the 18 layers of E-glass with 4 layers of woven
bamboo (18:4 WB:EG) were utilized and explored to determine
whether or not the composites had the capacity to reach level IIIA
of NIJ test under high velocity impact test and type of failure form
toward target area. The tests were conducted using hemispherical
bullet which is made of mild steel with different pressure applied.
The minimum velocity was set at 436 m/s as required for NIJ level
IIIA [19].
6.3. Energy absorption
For each test, the impact energy was calculated by referring to
the muzzle velocity [22]. Energy absorption in relation to impact
velocity is interpreted in terms of striking velocity, or the amount of
kinetic energy absorbed by the composite material. Projectiles
which pass through the panel are considered to have achieved
complete penetration (CP), whereas the others are characterized as
being partial penetration (PP). The energy absorbed by the fabric is

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Table 4
Result of V50 test for (4:18 WB:WEG).

Location number Velocity/(m$s1) Location Explosive mass/g Type of penetration Front face Back face

1 390 Lot 12A 0.39 Partial penetration

2 359 Lot 13 0.39 Partial penetration

3 420 Lot 19A 0.39 Partial penetration

4 470 Lot 19B 0.41 Partial penetration

5 480 Lot 19B 0.50 Complete penetration

6 488 Lot 19B 0.48 Partial penetration

7 498 Lot 19B 0.49 Complete penetration

8 498 Lot 19B 0.485 Complete penetration

(continued on next page)

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Table 4 (continued )

Location number Velocity/(m$s1) Location Explosive mass/g Type of penetration Front face Back face

9 490 Lot 19B 0.483 Complete penetration

10 486 Lot 19B 0.48 Complete penetration

11 484 Lot 19B 0.47 Complete penetration

12 477 Lot 19B 0.45 Partial penetration

equal to the residual energy amount subtracted from total impact
energy. When bullet found penetrates through the sample, Equa-
tion (1) can be expressed as
1  2 2
 other available bullets, including ogival and conical shape bullets
E¼ m Vimp  Vres
2
If no penetration occurs to completely capture the kinetic en-
ergy of the bullet, the residual velocity will be equal to zero, as
expressed in Equation (2) below
1 P applied ¼
E¼ mV 2
2
It was observed that the initial of pressure applied led to
increasing speed of the projectile.
Fig. 7 depicts the velocity of the projectile versus the energy
absorption in the sample tests. Cylinder gas pressure represents the
applied pressure at the projectile end. Three specimens were tested
repeatedly to estimate the effectiveness of each sample. This clar-
ified the higher levels of energy absorption of the targets shot by
each hemispherical bullet. The data was contrasted with the min-
imum speed toward reaching level IIIA according to NIJ 0101.06
Standard [19]. At impacting velocity of 349 m/s, the energy ab-
sorption was only 0.323 which was the lowest among the others.
Meanwhile, at the velocity of 355 m/s and 372 m/s, the energy
absorption is increasing to 0.334 J and 0.368 J respectively. The re-
sults generally exhibit expanding linear energy absorption with an
increase of impact velocity. According to the NIJ 0101.06 standard,
the requirement minimum velocity to reach level IIIA is 436 m/s.
During the test, the maximum velocity obtain for projectile can be
reached was 372 m/s as tabulated in Table 6 the minimum velocity
is only 372 m/s. Thus, for this test, the ability for sample to with-
stand the bullet only can reach the level II.
A hemispherical bullet provides higher impact force than the
(1) [22]. Air resistance was neglected while running the experiment.
The recording cylinder pressure date represents the applied pres-
sure at the projectile end. Consequently, the propellant force can be
estimated according the following equation
Propellant force
(3)
(2) Projectile Cross Section Area
The dynamic energy that require to propel the projectile
through the long panel of the ballistic gun machine of 4.00 m in
length is clarified in the equation below
Propellant force ¼ Papplied x Projectile Cross Section Area
(4)
The initiation velocity ðVi ) can be estimated from the propellant
energy and the mass of the bullet
1
Propelling Energy ¼ mV 2 (5)
2
Essentially, pressure affects damage size, causing several types
of failure related to projectile speed. The flat end surfaces can in-
crease projectile resistance against target hardness and reduce
projectile deformation as a factor of successful penetration.
As indicated by Zainab et al. [22], the hemispherical projectile

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Table 5
Result of V50 Test for (9:4:9 EG:WB:EG).

Location number Velocity/(m$s1) Type of penetration Explosive mass/g Location Front face Back face

1 454 Complete penetration 0.41 Lot 19B

2 365 Partial penetration 0.41 Lot 13

3 421 Partial penetration 0.38 Lot 19A

4 417 Partial penetration 0.38 Lot 19A

5 476 Complete penetration 0.45 Lot 19A

6 441 Complete penetration 0.40 Lot 19A

7 428 Complete penetration 0.39 Lot 19A

8 428 Partial penetration 0.385 Lot 19A

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10 A. Ali et al. / Defence Technology xxx (2018) 1e13
Fig. 7. Energy absorption versus velocity produced from different applied pressure.
Table 6
Performance of NIJ test of the composites.
Specimen Pressure/psi Velocity/(m$s1) Energy absorption/J
1 2190 372 0.368
2 1885 349 0.323
3 2030 355 0.334
should assimilate more energy than ogival and conical to achieve
perforation. Sharp angle edges play a role in digging at impact point
and shearing the fabric. The hemispherical shape provides more
extension due to no sharp edge that is responsible about the dy-
namic shear stress. Fig. 8 delineate the impact of the front and rear
face with different pressure applied using hemispherical bullet
shape. In the perforated panel, energy absorption of each layer
gradually increases from front to back. It was discovered that in the
perforated panels, the energy absorption efficiency of front layers is
lower than the rear layers, due to various levels of requirement the
transverse way given by the texture layers after the present layer
[23].
6.4. Failures mode
The ballistic impact failure has been observed in couple of past
examination [20,22,24]. In this experiment, the multi-shot tests led
toward the objective territory to characterize the ballistic limit of
laminated hybrid bamboo/E-glass composite to withstand the
bullet at specified velocities and different propellant masses. The
failure mode represents the deformation of the front and rear
target face that caused by the projectile energy. The failure mech-
anisms can be observed after the target absorbed the ballistic
impact. The sample dimensions were 29  18  29 cm tested under
the V50 ballistic limit. Fig. 9 shows the effect of sample after
Fig. 8. The effect of shooting on the front and rear face.
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composites, Defence Technology (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dt.2018.09.001
projectile propelling.
The multi-shot of bullets which propelled to the target area of
the sample resulted penetration at certain velocities. The front face
was observed to experience deformation caused by the failure
mode. The damaged and perforation of bullet can be minimized by
controlling and optimizing the velocity of each projectile. At points
5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, complete penetration occurred. By referring to
Table 5, the front and rear faces have shown effects after shooting.
Increasing velocity as well as mass of the explosives unquestionably
led to more prominent damage and full penetration. This was
supported by previous researchers [25] who found that the damage
area increased as the impact loads increased. The pressure wave
starting from the effect direct moved along the yarn towards the
edge of the texture, where they were reflected. In woven texture,
each yarn hybrid guide served mostly to transmit and somewhat
reflect the pressure wave [26] including numerous factors
contributing to instrument failure. Delamination is the partition of
cover layers between the limit layers of the fibers, as shown in
Fig. 10 and Fig. 11.
Low impact velocities below the critical velocity (V50), the ve-
locity at which 50% of the projectiles perforate the target, allowed
the fabric to absorb more energy because the yarns do not fail
during the initial stress rise and the transverse deflection of the
fabric has time to propagate. High impact velocities greater than
V50 caused localized damage and the yarns failed before significant
transverse deflection could develop. Fibers at the impacted surface
were observed to have pulled and spears of fibers appeared in
between of laminated layers. Amid the infiltration procedure, shots
do not break a few yarns, the wedging their way through the
opening by pushing aside and slipping past the rest of the yarns
[20]. Further investigation related to the influence of laminated
layer bamboo was continued in several experiments [8e13].
It is interesting to note that, there is positive effect of tensile
strength on the ballistics properties of these composites, Previ-
ously, in Refs. [8,9,12] the characterization on the mechanical ten-
sile were extensively done. The highest tensile that reported was
achieved on the Woven Bamboo/Woven E Glass composites, it is
not surprise the ballistic performance of this combination give
superior results compared with Woven Bamboo alone.
Fig. 12 shows the influence of pressure on velocity. In this test,
different amounts of pressure were used which utilized the
distinctive effects of velocity. Higher pressure contributes to the
higher impellent energy with increasing travelling speed. This was
bolstered by Zainab et al. [22], who showed that pressure is directly
proportional to velocity. Different levels of pressure applied by high
speed projectiles led to the failure of the bamboo strips after
shooting. The findings were reached as well in Kannan Rassiah et al.
[8e13], who found that the bamboo strip had poor interfacial
bonding and weak adhesion, causing low mechanical properties in
the laminated layer composite.
In order to observe failure inside the damage, a sample was cut
to highlight the cross-section views across the impact point. Since
the impact energy of high velocity objects is dissipated over a
smaller region, an additional damage mechanism is present at high
velocities known as the shear plug, as shown in Fig. 13. The energy
of the projectiles travelling at ballistic velocities was sufficient to
create a shear plug shear the front face of the composite. The depth
of the shear plug appeared to be dependent on the velocity of
projectile. The shear process continued in successive plies until the
impact energy of the projectile was lowered to the point that the
fibers could provide some resistance to shear [24]. For this spec-
imen, the depth of shear plug only occurred at half of the specimen
thickness.
Delamination is observed between plies throughout the thick-
ness of the composite as shown in Fig. 14. The delamination was
 A. Ali et al. / Defence Technology xxx (2018) 1e13 11

Fig. 9. The front and rear face after multi shot in V50 test according to location number.

Fig. 10. The delamination occurred after test.

Fig. 11. Fiber pullout.

found to have occurred due to initial wave created upon impact.

Fig. 12. Velocity versus pressure.
The extent of delamination was found to be reduced and mini-
mized, since the damaged mode was through the creation of the
shear plug. The time for delamination to propagate outwards de-
creases with depth in the composite as no penetration occurs.
However [24], obtained opposite findings, in which the velocity of
the projectile decrease as the bullet penetrates throughout the
graphite fibers during the test.
Fig. 15 shows the fracture region of front layer resulting from
initial impact suffered by the front bamboo fiber composite. The
fibers which carried most of the loads are critical when damage
occurs which caused failure. From the post impact panel, it is
clearly seen in the front layers that fiber breakage is clear due to the

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12 A. Ali et al. / Defence Technology xxx (2018) 1e13
Fig. 13. The shear plug region.
Fig. 14. Delamination between layers.
Fig. 15. The fiber breakage.
high impact of the projectile. Different layers suggest that the fibers
broke randomly at the weakest point over the length [23]. However,
breakage is typically limited to the zone near the impact and is
constrained by the object size and energy. The propagation of shock
energy is another factor contributing to fiber breaks [23].
In Fig. 16, when the bullet was pushed forward, the matrix
cracking continued to grow in vertical direction. Ellis [24] also re-
ported that the fibers in contact with the projectile were pushed
forward, causing a line of matrix cracks within the ply to generate
outward between fibers on either side of the projectile. This is due
Please cite this article in press as: Ali A, et al., Ballistic impact properties of woven bamboo- woven E-glass- unsaturated polyester hybrid
composites, Defence Technology (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dt.2018.09.001
Fig. 16. The matrix cracking.
to the disadvantages of natural fibers. which have poor interfacial
adhesion due to hydrophilic character of cellulose. The phenome-
non leads to poor fiber dispersion and fiber matrix interfacial
adhesion [25]. The cellulose, hemicelluloses, pectin and lignin are
rich in hydroxyl groups, leading to natural fiber hydrophobicity
[26].
7. CONCLUSIONS
1) Shooting tests were successfully performed in order to deter-
mine the ballistic limit (V50) for both samples which are 9:4:9
WEG: WB: WEG and 18:4 WB: WEG. By following the military
standard of ML-STD-6682, it was discovered that 18:4 WB: WEG
was able to withstand the bullet up to 482 m/s, which is more
than the minimum speed to qualify for Level of National Insti-
tute of Justice (NIJ) IIIA standards. In the case of, 9:4:9 WEG:
WB:WEG laminated arrangement, the materials only reached
level II of the NIJ standards at 414 m/s. The multi-shot test shows
evident that failure of the mechanism indicated extensive fibre
pull out and delamination between the limit layers of glass fi-
bers, which are brittle compared to bamboo fibre. This clearly
shows that the e-glass cannot absorb the impact as much as the
bamboo, leading to the separation of layers, in which the layers
were no longer stacked together.
2) The NIJ test showed that the developed composites only reached
the minimum speed of level II, which was 367 m/s. The com-
posite failed to satisfy level III A.
3) The mechanism of failures was recognized when the bullet hit
the target, shear plug failure occurred due to the travelling
projectile, which then caused delamination from the dissipation
of early wave from impact. The front face which is bamboo
resulted in breakage of the fibre at the weakest point at which
the bullet arrested at the impact panel.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the Fundamental Research Grant
Scheme (FRGS) 1/2013/TK01/UPNM/01/2 and Universiti Perta-
hanan National Malaysia (UPNM) for supporting the research work,
The Mechanical Engineering Department Politeknik port Dickson,
The Coordinator of Composite Engineering Laboratory (FKP, UTeM)
for granting permission to use all available equipment.
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