Performance of Ceramic-Composite Armors under Ballistic Impact Loading
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JMEPEG https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-020-05041-z
Performance of Ceramic-Composite Armors under Ballistic Impact Loading Santosh Kumar
, Kiran Akella, Makarand Joshi, Asim Tewari, and N.K. Naik
(Submitted December 21, 2019; in revised form July 12, 2020) Analysis of typical ceramic-composite armors is presented for their ballistic impact performance. Specifically, armor configurations are given for enhancing ballistic limit velocity with minimum armor areal density. The studies are performed using the analytical model presented earlier (Naik et al. in Int J Damage Mech 22(2):145–187, 2013). Wave theory and energy balance between the kinetic energy of the moving projectile and the energy absorbed by different mechanisms by both the armor and the projectile are considered. Analytical predictions and typical experimental results available in the literature are compared. A good match is observed. It is observed that in certain range of armor areal density, ballistic limit velocity remains the same. The explanation for such a behavior is provided considering different major energy absorbing mechanisms at different areal densities of the armor. Further, effects of armor configuration, incident impact velocity and ceramic plate material on ballistic impact performance are presented. Among the ceramic plate materials considered, alumina 99.9% gives higher ballistic limit velocity. Keywords
areal density of armor, ceramic-composite armor, performance of armor
ballistic energy
impact, balance,
1. Introduction Ceramic-composite armors are characterized by enhanced performance for arresting the projectiles. For the efficient design of ceramic-composite armors, the contributions of each component of the armor should be clearly understood. The main structural elements of the ceramic-composite armor are: front composite cover layer, ceramic plate, rubber layer and composite backing plate. Ceramic plate absorbs major part of incident impact energy of the projectile. The damage induced during ballistic impact should not propagate to the backing plate. This is necessitated by the requirement that the backing plate should be able to take the load coming on the vehicle even after the projectile hits on to the target and damages the ceramic plate. The backing plate can also absorb energy based on design of the armor. This may lead to a situation where backing plate is damaged. A rubber layer is provided in between the ceramic and the backing plate. This would delay the penetration process. It can also prevent merging of damages within the ceramic and backing plate. The front composite cover layer is provided to prevent formation of micro-damages to the ceramic. Santosh Kumar, Aerospace Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076, India; and R & D Establishment (Engineers), DRDO, Pune 411015, India; Kiran Akella and Makarand Joshi, R & D Establishment (Engineers), DRDO, Pune 411015, India; Asim Tewari, Mechanical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 40007
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