Compressive and Tensile Strengths of Glass Reinforced Polyester Under Shock Wave Propagation

This paper presents the results of plane shock wave experiments performed on a glass reinforced polyester composite to determine its compressive strength under single shock and double shock, and its delamination strength. The compressive strength is inferred from the change in the value of its shock impedance. The delamination strength was determined by conducting well controlled spall experiments such that the tensile plane was located as near as possible to the interface between two adjacent lay -ups of the composite.