Advances in X-ray Computed Tomography Diagnostics of Ballistic Impact Damage
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THE mitigation and, where possible, the elimination of projectile penetration under various specific ballistic threat conditions would significantly improve the functionality and protective value of various armor materials and designs. However, a critical challenge is how to efficiently modify or create new materials and designs that will manifest such improved penetration resistance in either vehicular or personnel protection systems. The current extended development times and the increasing difficulty of achieving desired protection improvements with the empirical ‘‘shoot and look’’ approach used for many decades suggest that a more efficient and affordable approach to armor design is long overdue. The use of computational ballistic modeling to assist in the description, simulation, and, ultimately, the prediction of terminal ballistic impact performance remains a continuing technical challenge.[1–4] Anderson[5] has recently provided an excellent review of computational ceramic armor modeling. However, the predominant activities and limited successes with such modeling have been focused on the empirical penetration phenomena JOSEPH M. WELLS, Principal, is with JMW Associates, Mashpee, MA 02649. Contact e-mail: [email protected] REBECCA M. BRANNON, Associate Professor, is with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-9208. This article is based on a presentation made in the symposium entitled ‘‘Dynamic Behavior of Materials,’’ which occurred during the TMS Annual Meeting and Exhibition, February 25–March 1, 2007 in Orlando, Florida, under the auspices of The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, TMS Structural Materials Division, and TMS/ASM Mechanical Behavior of Materials Committee. Article published online September 1, 2007 METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A
with minimal consideration of the details of physical impact damage in the target material, which occurs prior to and during the penetration process. Consequently, the linkage of the phenomenological penetration behavior to explicit material impact deformation and damage mechanisms has been minimal at best. This is, perhaps, not surprising since so little actual impact damage characterization data are available in detail, especially on a three-dimensional (3-D) volumetric basis. It is suggested that renewed efforts are necessary to incorporate physical target damage into the development of numerical ballistic modeling for realistic armor performance predictions. A high-resolution volumetric damage knowledgebase consistent with both the ballistic conditions and the armor target material/architecture details is needed in order to incorporate physical damage into computational ballistic performance modeling. A significant factor required for the development of such a damage knowledgebase is the availability of a noninvasive, high-resolution damage diagnostic modality; such a modality exists in X-ray computed tomography (XCT). Exploratory XCT ballistic impact damage diagnostic capabilities have been de
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