Experimental and numerical study on ballistic performance of a sandwich composite plate with biomimetic tendon basalt filament bundles (SCP-BTBFB)

• A sandwich composite plate (SCP-BTBFB) with biomimetic tendon basalt filament bundles is developed, core of basalt fiber, face panels of CFRP. • Ballistic experiments and Abaqus simulations analyze effects of core height, impact position, and winding fibers on ballistic performance. • Core height increase improves stiffness, reduces residual velocity; 12.5 mm core sandwich plate shows optimal SEA (4 J/g) under identical configurations. • Impacting four filament bundles yields highest energy absorption efficiency, with damage volume as key factor. • Sandwich plate with aramid-wound core has higher energy absorption (365.6 J) and SEA (3.33 J/g) due to high impact toughness. Currently, basalt fiber provides a solid support for protective effects due to its high mechanical properties, and its excellent ballistic protection capability is particularly in line with the core requirements of this field. Meanwhile, it also possesses the characteristics of low cost, environmental friendliness and diverse environmental adaptability, thus becoming an ideal alternative to traditional composite materials in the current ballistic protection field. This study developed a sandwich composite plate with biomimetic tendon basalt filament bundles (SCP-BTBFB), using basalt filament bundles as the core and CFRP as face panels. Ballistic impact experiments (7.62 mm pistol bullets, 445 m/s initial velocity) and Abaqus simulations systematically investigated the effects of core height (5–20 mm), impact position, and winding fibers (UHMWPE, Aramid, LCP) on ballistic performance. Results show increasing core height enhances stiffness and reduces residual velocity, with 12.5 mm core achieving optimal SEA (4 J/g). Impacting four filament bundles yields highest energy absorption efficiency (damage volume as a key factor). Aramid-wrapped cores show maximum energy absorption (365.6 J) due to high impact toughness. The study reveals damage mechanisms: front panel shear failure, core filament fracture/extrusion, and rear panel delamination/warping, confirming that synergies between core microstructure and fiber properties are critical for ballistic performance, providing a basis for lightweight protective material design. Furthermore, to further optimize the structural performance, future work will adopt schemes such as modifying fiber materials, interfacial modification, and gradient core layers to further balance costs and improve performance, which is expected to provide some assistance for the field of lightweight protective materials.