Wave propagation due to impact through layered polymer composites

The aim of this paper is to study the impact response of a large layered viscoelastic plate by subjecting it to a ramp displacement at one end of plate while the other end is fixed. The small strain nonlinear response of the material is modeled using a implicit two network theory. A finite volume technique is used to solve the momentum equation together with a one step explicit scheme for the time evaluation and in order to capture the wave propagation phenomena. Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and Polycarbonate (PC) are used in this study. The stress, velocity propagation and their interactions at the interface studies were carried out for: (1) pure PC, (2) pure PMMA, (3) bilayer (PMMA/PC), (4) bilayer (PC/PMMA), (5) trilayer (PC/PMMA/PC) and (6) trilayer (PMMA/PC/PMMA) are compared. Results indicate that the stress on the wall was lowest when using a trilayer (PMMA/PC/PMMA).