Ballistic response of skin simulant against fragment simulating projectiles

The response of biological phantoms against high velocity impact is actively sought for applications in defense,space,soft robotics and sensing.Towards this end,we study the ballistic response of silicone based skin simulant against fragment impact.Using a pneumatic gas gun setup,six chisel-nosed and three regular shaped(sphere,cylinder,and cube)fragments were impacted on the skin simulant.The resulting skin simulant response was studied in terms of ballistic limit velocities,energy densities,failure pattern,and the mechanics of interaction.The results indicate that the shape of the fragment affects the ballistic limit velocities.The ballistic limit velocities,energy densities of the chisel-nosed fragment simulating projectiles were relatively insensitive to the size(mass),except for the smallest(0.16 g)and largest(2.79 g)chisel-nosed fragment.For the same size(1 g),ballistic limit velocities and failure are dependent on the shape of the fragment.The skin simulant failed by combined plugging and elastic hole enlargement.Failure in the spherical fragment was dominated by the elastic hole enlargement,whereas plugging failure was dominant in all other fragments.The spherical,cylindrical,and chisel-nosed fragments created circular cavities,and the cubical fragment created a square cavity.In the case of the spherical fragment,slipping of the fragment within the skin simulant was seen.Cubical fragments created lateral cracks emanating from the corners of the square cavity.Interestingly,for all the fragments,the maximum deformation corresponding to the perforation was lower than the non-perforation indicating rate dependent,stress driven failure.The maximum deformation was also dependent on the shape of the fragment.Overall,these results provide unique insights into the mechanical response of a soft simulant against ballistic impact.Results have utility in the calibration and validation of computational models,design of personal protective equipment,and antipersonnel systems.

Assessment of the ballistic response of honeycomb sandwich structures subjected to offset and normal impact

In the present study,experimental and numerical investigations were carried out to examine the behavior of sandwich panels with honeycomb cores.The high velocity impact tests were carried out using a compressed air gun.A sharp conical nosed projectile was impacted normally and with some offset distance(20 mm and 40 mm).The deformation,failure mode and energy dissipation characteristics were obtained for both kinds of loading.Moreover,the explicit solver was run in Abaqus to create the finite element model.The numerically obtained test results were compared with the experimental to check the accuracy of the modelling.The numerical result was further employed to obtain strain energy dissipation in each element by externally running user-defined code in Abaqus.Furthermore,the influence of inscribe circle diameter and cell wall and face sheet thickness on the energy dissipation,deformation and failure mode was examined.The result found that ballistic resistance and deformation were higher against offset impact compared to the normal impact loading.Sandwich panel impacted at 40 mm offset distance required 3 m/s and 1.9 m/s more velocity than 0 and 20 mm offset distance.Also,increasing the face sheet and wall thickness had a positive impact on the ballistic resistance in terms of a higher ballistic limit and energy absorption.However,inscribe circle diameter had a negative influence on the ballistic resistance.Also,the geometrical parameters of the sandwich structure had a significant influence on the energy dissipation in the different deformation directions.The energy dissipation in plastic work was highest for circumferential direction,regardless of impact condition followed by tangential,radial and axial directions.