Ballistic limit velocity of small caliber projectiles against SS400 steel plates:Live fire experiments and empirical models

This study presents the ballistic limit velocity of small caliber projectiles against SS400 steel plate derived from live-fire ballistic experiments. Four different small caliber projectiles were tested against SS400 steel plates of 9 mm, 10 mm, and 12 mm thicknesses. The ballistic limit velocity was calculated using two standard methods, MIL-STD-662F and NIJ-STD-0101.06, and additionally using a support vector machine algorithm. The results show a linear relationship between the plate thickness and ballistic limit velocity. Further, the relative penetration performance among five different small caliber projectiles was analyzed using the Penetration Performance Ratio(PPR) introduced in this study, which suggests the potential of PPR to predict the ballistic limit velocity of other untested materials and/or different projectiles.

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.

Influences of nanotwin volume fraction on the ballistic performance of coarse-grained metals

Coarse-grained（CG） metals strengthened by nanotwinned（NT） regions possess high strength and good ductility. As such, they are very suitable for applications in bullet-proof targets. Here, a numerical model based on the conventional theory of strain gradient plasticity and the Johnson–Cook failure criterion is employed to study the influences of volume fraction of NT regions on their ballistic performance.The results show that in general a relatively small twin spacing（4–10 nm） and a moderate volume fraction（7%–20%） will lead to excellent limit velocity and that the influences of volume fraction on limit displacement change with the category of impact processes.

Semi-theoretical analyses of the concrete plate perforated by a rigid projectile

Based on the three-stage perforation model, a semi-theoretical analysis is conducted for the ballistic per- formances of a rigid kinetic projectile impacting on concrete plates. By introducing the projectile resistance coefficients, dimensionless formulae are proposed for depth of penetra- tion （DOP）, perforation limit thickness, ballistic limit veloc- ity, residual velocity and perforation ratio, with the projec- tile nosed geometries and projectile-target interfacial fric- tion taken into account. Based on the proposed formula for DOP and lots of penetration tests data of normal and high strength concrete targets, a new expression is obtained for target strength parameter. By comparisons between the re- sults of the proposed formulae and existing empirical formu- lae and large amount of projectile penetration or perforation tests data for monolithic and segmented concrete targets, the validations of the proposed formulae are verified. It is found that the projectile-target interfacial friction can be neglected in the predictions of characteristic ballistic parameters. The dimensionless DOP for low-to-mid speed impacts of non-flat nosed projectiles increases almost linearly with the impact factor by a coefficient of 2/（nS）. The anti-perforation ability of the multilayered concrete plates is dependent on both the target plate thickness and the projectile impact velocity. The variation range of the perforation ratio is 1-3.5 for concrete targets.

Equivalent protection factor of bi-layer ceramic metal structures

With increasing ballistic threat levels,there is ever more demand on developing ceramic armor designs with improved performance.This paper presents finite element simulations that investigate the performance of silicon carbide ceramic with steel 4340 backing material and titanium alloy,graphite as buffer layers when subjected to normal and oblique impacts by a tungsten alloy long rod projectile(LRP).Depth of penetration from experimental measurements is compared with simulations to confirm the validity of constitutive,failure model parameters.Titanium alloy cover plate and graphite interface weak layer laterally spread the impact shock away from the SiC tile and reduces the amplification of the stress accumulation at the front surface of the SiC tile.The dwelling time increases before it penetrates into ceramic armor.Further,using AUTODYN®numerical simulations detailed parametric study is carried out to identify the minimum areal density armor for a given ballistic limit velocity.The equivalent protection factor for the bi-layer armor is a simple function of the cosine of the angle of impact.

Penetration of disk fragments following impact on thin plate

To investigate the ballistic resistance and failure pattern of aeroengine casing following the impact of disk fragments, and to determine the optimum case structure, the phenomena of a 1/3rd disk fragment impact on single and double-layered thin plate targets were simulated using nonlinear dynamical analysis software MSC.Dytran. Strain rate effect was introduced in a Johnson-Cook (JC) material model for the disk fragment and the plate. Impact modeling was based on the Arbitrary Lagrange-Eulerian method, and simulated using explicit finite element method (FEM). Simulation results showed that the major failure pattern of the plate is shearing and tensile fracture with large plastic deformation. It was also concluded that the ballistic limit velocity increases with the standoff distance when it is beyond a certain value, and that greater resistance is obtained when the front plate has either a proportionately low or high thickness. The impact resistance of a double-layered plate may exceed that of a single plate if the thicknesses and standoff distance of the two plates are set appropriately.