Influence of Boundary Conditions on Ceramic/Metal Plates under Ballistic Loads

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.