TITLE:
Influence of Boundary Conditions on Ceramic/Metal Plates under Ballistic Loads
AUTHORS:
Nadda Jongpairojcosit
KEYWORDS:
Ceramic Armor, Boundary Condition, Impact Behavior
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering,
Vol.3 No.7,
July
1,
2015
ABSTRACT: Ceramic/metal plate is one of the most
widely used light weight armors, especially to protect armor piercing (AP)
bullet. Experimental investigation of projectile penetration mechanism into the
ceramic/metal plate requires costly sensitive equipment to capture impact
phenomenon that completes within microseconds. Alternatively, the impact
mechanism can be efficiently investigated using numerical simulations. Among recent
investigations on the protective capability of this ceramic/metal plates, few
only discussed the influence of the boundary effects on the ballistic
protection. This study thus aims to examine the effect of boundary conditions
by changing shapes of the plate, border constraints and bounded materials in
numerical simulation. Material models of the ceramic and the backing metal
plate made of aluminium 2017-T6 are selected. The 7.62 AP projectile’s core was
modeled by a solid cylinder. The initial projectile velocity was 940 m/s. The
plates are represented by either a square or a hexagonal tile. The edges of the
plates were fixed or enclosed by a soft epoxy. To investigate the effect of
backing plate, a small gap was introduced between some of the ceramic and
aluminum interfaces. The results showed that the hexagonal tiles reduce the
deformation of the backing plate. The plates bounded by the epoxy exhibit
inferior performances compared to the fixed plates. Finally, the small gap between
the ceramic and the aluminum interfaces significantly increases the time to
stop the projectile.