Ballistic performance of UHMWPE laminate/modified aramid fabric composite structure based on support vector machine (SVM) method

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers are extensively utilized in personal protective equipment owing to their lightweight and superior properties. Recent research has demonstrated that the protective efficacy of UHMWPE laminates decreases when subjected to high-temperature projectile impacts. This study proposes a novel composite structure comprising modified aramid fabric and UHMWPE laminate. Ballistic testing results reveal that the new compliant composite exhibits a 25.6 % higher ballistic limit velocity (v_bl) compared to pure UHMWPE laminate, while also demonstrating significantly enhanced flexibility. The modified aramid fabric effectively shields the UHMWPE laminate from high-temperature erosion. Leveraging dimensionless algorithms and support vector machine methodologies, the module distribution of the composite structure has been further optimized. The v_bl of optimized composite fabric is 40.4 % higher than that of UHMWPE laminate. Parameters such as transverse wave velocity, yarn friction coefficient, and tensile strength influence the arrangement order within the composite structure. The simulation error for the composite fabric is approximately 10 %. The failure characteristics observed in numerical simulations closely align with experimental results, indicating that the optimized composite structure further enhances its impact resistance performance through a combination of factors, including tensile strength improvement, transverse wave velocity optimization, and yarn friction coefficient improvement.