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In this paper a new anti-hourglassing mode stabilization procedure is presented for the pentahedral finiLe elements. An explicit dynamic large deformation elastoplastic framework is used to implement the one point quadrature pentahedral element. The element is designed to perform well for the analysis of composite plates and structures where multiple cracks without any predefined direction are expected to occur. The stabilization procedure is based on the standard assumed strain method previously developed by Simo, Belytchko and others. Several numerical simulations have been carried out to verify the developed algorithm and to assess the performance of the element.