•3D woven composites exhibit superior impact behavior as compared to 2D and UD composites.•3D angle interlock reinforced composite possesses highest stress followed by warp interlock and orthogonal composites.•Knife penetration test clearly revealed superior protection performance of 3D woven structures.•Composites with 3D woven fabrics as reinforcement show higher values of storage modulus.•Unlike 3D composites, 2D and UD composites did undergo delamination near the point of loading. This paper presents a comprehensive experimental study of in-plane tensile, compressive, bending, impact resistance, knife penetration and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) of unidirectional (UD), two dimensional (2D), three dimensional (3D) orthogonal, 3D angle-interlock and 3D warp interlock multi-layer E-glass tow based woven constructions reinforced composites. Optimization of resin %, hardener % and curing pressure has been carried out using Box and Behnken design for getting maximum possible impact resistance. The results depict that the 3D woven composites have considerably superior impact resistance, knife penetration resistance and DMA behavior as compared to UD and 2D counterparts.