基于层裂机理的弹体侵彻混凝土的终点弹道研究

基于动态球形空腔膨胀理论给出的阻力函数理论公式和开坑阶段的表面层裂机理,建立了能够综合考虑弹头形状、开坑区深度的斜侵彻深度预测模型,并进一步推导了能够适用不同弹头形状的弹体过载时程曲线计算公式。预测模型得到的侵彻深度和过载与试验结果吻合较好。研究结果可为弹体与混凝土靶的斜侵彻弹道分析和弹丸头部设计提供一定帮助。     

Interface defeat studies of long-rod projectile impacting on ceramic targets

The interface defeat phenomenon always occurs when a long-rod projectile impacting on the ceramic target with certain velocity, i.e., the projectile is forced to flow radially on the surface of ceramic plates for a period of time without significant penetration. Interface defeat has a direct effect upon the ballistic performance of the armor piercing projectile, which is studied numerically and theoretically at present. Firstly, by modeling the projectiles and ceramic targets with the SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) particles and Lagrange finite elements, the systematic numerical simulations on interface defeat are performed with the commercial finite element program AUTODYN. Three different responses, i.e., complete interface defeat, dwell and direct penetration, are reproduced in different types of ceramic targets (bare, buffered, radially confined and oblique). Furthermore, by adopting the validated numerical algorithms, constitutive models and the corresponding material parameters, the influences of projectile (material, diameter, nose shape), constitutive models of ceramic (JH-1 and JH-2 models), buffer and cover plate (thickness, constraints, material), as well as the prestress acted on the target (radial and hydrostatic) on the interface defeat (transition velocity and dwell time) are systematically investigated. Finally, based on the energy conservation approach and taking the strain rate effect of ceramic material into account, a modified model for predicting the upper limit of transition velocity is proposed and validated. The present work and derived conclusions can provide helpful reference for the design and optimization of both the long-rod projectile and ceramic armor.     

基于层裂机理的弹体侵彻混凝土的工程模型

以斜侵彻过程中的终点弹道为研究对象,基于动态球形空腔膨胀理论给出的阻力函数理论公式和开坑阶段的表面层裂机理,建立了能够综合考虑弹头形状、开坑区深度的斜侵彻深度预测模型,并进一步推导了能够适用不同弹头形状的弹体过载时程曲线计算公式。预测模型得到的侵彻深度和过载与试验结果吻合较好。研究结果可为弹体与混凝土靶的斜侵彻弹道分析和弹丸头部设计提供一定帮助。     

金属靶体材料动力硬度测试及动态阻力分析

以高速侵彻下45钢靶体侵彻阻力为研究对象,开展了弹体高速侵彻45钢靶体试验,获取了典型弹体对45钢靶体的成坑参数。基于高速侵彻阻力模型对靶体侵彻阻力及影响因素进行分析。结合流体动力学侵彻模型对不同弹体材料侵彻45钢靶体侵彻深度规律进行研究。研究结果表明:随着撞击速度的增大,45钢的靶体阻力从5. 13 GPa减小到3. 7 GPa;基于材料动力硬度测试方法的靶体动态阻力测试结果和理论计算结果吻合较好;随着靶体动态屈服强度的增大,靶体阻力呈线性增大的趋势;侵彻深度及靶体动态阻力理论计算结果和试验数据吻合较好,说明所提动态阻力确定方法可行,可为高速侵彻动力学研究提供参考。     

Critical interfaces in body armour systems

The ballistic performance, and behaviour, of an armour system is governed by two major sets of variables, geometrical and material. Of these, the consistency of performance, especially against small arms ammunition, will depend upon the consistency of the properties of the constituent materials. In a body armour system for example, fibre diameter, areal density of woven fabric, and bulk density of ceramic are examples of critical parameters and monitoring such parameters will form the backbone of associated quality control procedures. What is often overlooked, because it can fall into the User’s domain, are the interfaces that exist between the various products; the carrier, the Soft Armour Insert (SAI), and the one or two hard armour plates (HAP1 and HAP2). This is especially true if the various products are sourced from different suppliers.There are between 30 and 150 individual layers within a typical body armour system, and each of the interfaces between each of those layers will, in some way or another, contribute to the ballistic performance of the system. For example, consider the following interfaces/interlayers: (i) the frictional, sliding, inter-ply surfaces within a soft armour pack, and also between the pack and the carrier, (ii) the air-gaps that may develop within the soft armour pack, (iii) the interconnecting space between the soft armour pack and the hard armour plate, (iv) the nature of the interfaces between adjacent plies of a multiplied backing laminate, even in a highly compressed Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) variant, (v) the interlayer between the ceramic and its substrate, within a HAP, and (vi) the geometrical fit between two hard armour plates within a stacked body armour system. This paper will provide a User-friendly overview of all such interfaces and provide unique guidance as to their criticality and influence.     

Ballistic response of armour plates using Generative Adversarial Networks

It is important to understand how ballistic materials respond to impact from projectiles such that informed decisions can be made in the design process of protective armour systems. Ballistic testing is a standards-based process where materials are tested to determine whether they meet protection, safety and performance criteria. For the V₅₀ ballistic test, projectiles are fired at different velocities to determine a key design parameter known as the ballistic limit velocity (BLV), the velocity above which projectiles perforate the target. These tests, however, are destructive by nature and as such there can be considerable associated costs, especially when studying complex armour materials and systems. This study proposes a unique solution to the problem using a recent class of machine learning system known as the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). The GAN can be used to generate new ballistic samples as opposed to performing additional destructive experiments. A GAN network architecture is tested and trained on three different ballistic data sets, and their performance is compared. The trained networks were able to successfully produce ballistic curves with an overall RMSE of between 10 and 20 % and predicted the V₅₀ BLV in each case with an error of less than 5 %. The results demonstrate that it is possible to train generative networks on a limited number of ballistic samples and use the trained network to generate many new samples representative of the data that it was trained on. The paper spotlights the benefits that generative networks can bring to ballistic applications and provides an alternative to expensive testing during the early stages of the design process.     

Enhancement of wear and ballistic resistance of armour grade AA7075 aluminium alloy using friction stir processing

Industrial applications of aluminium and its alloys are restricted because of their poor tribological properties. Thermal spraying, laser surfacing, electron beam welding are the most widely used techniques to alter the surface morphology of base metal. Preliminary studies reveal that the coating and layering of aluminium alloys with ceramic particles enhance the ballistic resistance. Furthermore, among aluminium alloys,7075 aluminium alloy exhibits high strength which can be compared to that of steels and has profound applications in the designing of lightweight fortification structures and integrated protection systems. Having limitations such as poor bond integrity, formation of detrimental phases and interfacial reaction between reinforcement and substrate using fusion route to deposit hard particles paves the way to adopt friction stir processing for fabricating surface composites using different sizes of boron carbide particles as reinforcement on armour grade 7075 aluminium alloy as matrix in the present investigation. Wear and ballistic tests were carried out to assess the performance of friction stir processed AA7075 alloy. Significant improvement in wear resistance of friction stir processed surface composites is attributed to the change in wear mechanism from abrasion to adhesion. It has also been observed that the surface metal matrix composites have shown better ballistic resistance compared to the substrate AA7075 alloy. Addition of solid lubricant Mo S2 has reduced the depth of penetration of the projectile to half that of base metal AA7075 alloy. For the first time, the friction stir processing technique was successfully used to improve the wear and ballistic resistances of armour grade high strength AA7075 alloy.     

穿甲子弹偏心入射陶瓷/钢复合靶板试验

设计并进行了7.62mm穿甲子弹侵彻陶瓷/低碳钢复合靶板的弹道试验,得到了极限速度及陶瓷锥底部半径等数据。分析了锥底半径与入射速度、面板及背板厚度的关系,着重分析了偏心入射时靶板的抗弹机理。结果表明:陶瓷锥可分为破碎区和粉碎区,粉碎区半径约为面板厚度与弹丸半径之和;当弹着点距离陶瓷面板边缘大于5mm时,靶板的抗弹性能变化不大,而弹着点位于距陶瓷面板边缘小于5mm的板边区时,抗弹性能明显降低,靶板的有效防护面积应扣除板边区。     

Partial penetration of annular grooved projectiles impacting ductile metal targets

Changing and optimizing the projectile nose shape is an important way to achieve specific ballistic performance. One special ballistic performance is the embedding effect, which can achieve a delayed high-explosive reaction on the target surface. This embedding effect includes a rebound phase that is significantly different from the traditional penetration process. To better study embedment behavior, this study proposed a novel nose shape called an annular grooved projectile and defined its interaction process with the ductile metal plate as partial penetration. Specifically, we conducted a series of low-velocity-ballistic tests in which these steel projectiles were used to strike 16-mm-thick target plates made with 2024-O aluminum alloy. We observed the dynamic evolution characteristics of this aluminum alloy near the impact craters and analyzed these characteristics by corresponding cross-sectional views and numerical simulations. The results indicated that the penetration resistance had a brief decrease that was influenced by its groove structure, but then it increased significantly-that is, the fluctuation of penetration resistance was affected by the irregular nose shape. Moreover, we visualized the distribution of the material in the groove and its inflow process through the rheology lines in microscopic tests and the highlighted mesh lines in simulations. The combination of these phenomena revealed the embed-ment mechanism of the annular grooved projectile and optimized the design of the groove shape to achieve a more firm embedment performance. The embedment was achieved primarily by the target material filled in the groove structure. Therefore, preventing the shear failure that occurred on the filling material was key to achieving this embedding effect.     

A comparison of the ballistic behaviour of conventionally sintered and additively manufactured alumina

Production of ceramic armour solutions on-demand/in-theatre would have significant logistical and military advantages. However, even assuming that such technologies could be successfully deployed in the field, such near net-shape manufacturing technology is relatively immature compared to conventional sintering of ceramics. In this study, the ballistic performance of a series of additively manufactured (AM)/rapidly-prototyped (RP) alumina tiles of 97.2% of the density of Sintox FA™ were investigated using both forward- and reverse-ballistic experiments. These experiments, undertaken with compressed gas-guns, employed the depth-of-penetration technique and flash X-ray as primary diagnostics to interrogate both efficiency of penetration and projectile-target interaction, respectively. The RP alumina was found to exhibit useful ballistic properties, successfully defeating steel-cored (AP) 7.62 × 39 mm BXN rounds at velocities of up-to c.a. 850 m/s, while exhibiting comparable failure modes to conventionally sintered armour-grade Sintox FA™. However, where a <1% by vol. Cu dopant was introduced into the RP material failure modes changed dramatically with performance dropping below that of conventionally sintered alumina. Overall, the results from both sets of experiments were complimentary and clearly indicated the potential of such RP materials to play an active role in provision of real-world body armour solutions provided quality control of the RP material can be maintained.     

Influence of thickness and projectile shape on penetration resistance of the compliant composite

The present study deals with development of conceptual proof for jute rubber basedflexible composite block to completely arrest the projectile impacting the target at high velocity impact of 400 m/s through numerical simulation approach using finite element (FE) method. The proposed flexible composite blocks of repeating jute/rubber/jute (JRJ) units are modelled with varying thickness from 30 mm to 120 mm in increments of 30 mm and impacted by flat (F), ogival (O) and hemispherical (HS) shaped projectiles. All the considered projectiles are impacted with proposed flexible composite blocks of different thicknesses and the penetration behaviour of the projectile in each case is studied. The penetration depth of the projectile in case of partially penetrated cases are considered and the effect of thickness and projectile shape on percentage of penetration depth is statistically analyzed using Tagu-chi's design of experiments (DOE). Results reveal that the though proposedflexible composite block with thickness of 90 mm is just sufficient to arrest the complete penetration of the projectile, considering the safety issues, it is recommended to use theflexible composite with thickness of 120 mm. The nature of damage caused by the projectile in the flexible composite is also studied. Statistical studies show that thickness of the block plays a prominent role in determining the damage resistance of the flexible composite.     

Analysis on the resistive force in penetration of a rigid projectile

According to the dimensionless formulae of DOP (depth of penetration) of a rigid projectile into different targets, the resistive force which a target exerts on the projectile during the penetration of rigid projectile is theoretically analyzed. In particular, the threshold V_c of impact velocity applicable for the assumption of constant resistive force is formulated through impulse analysis. The various values of V_c corresponding to different pairs of projectile-target are calculated, and the consistency of the relative test data and numerical results is observed.     

Fabrication of AA7005/TiB2-B4C surface composite by friction stir processing: Evaluation of ballistic behaviour

The present work aims to enhance the ballistic resistance of AA7005 alloy by incorporating the TiB₂ and B₄C ceramic reinforcement particles. Surface composites with different weight fractions of TiB₂ and B₄C particles were processed by friction stir processing. Micro-hardness and depth of penetration tests were carried out to evaluate the ballistic properties of the surface composites. The surface hardness of the composite was found to be nearly 70 HV higher than base alloy. The depth of penetration of the steel projectile was 20–26 mm in the composites as compared to 37 mm in the base alloy. Ballistic mass efficiency factor of the surface composite was found to be 1.6 times higher than base alloy. This is mainly attributed to the dispersion strengthening from the reinforcement particles.     

Body armour – New materials,new systems

This is a very timely review of body armour materials and systems since new test standards are currently being written, or reviewed, and new, innovative products released. Of greatest importance, however, is the recent evolution, and maturity, of the Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene fibres enabling a completely new style of system to evolve – a stackable system of Hard Armour Plates. The science of body armour materials is quickly reviewed with emphasis upon current understanding of relevant energy-absorbing mechanisms in fibres, fabrics, polymeric laminates and ceramics. The trend in on-going developments in ballistic fibres is then reviewed, analysed and future projections offered. Weaknesses in some of the ceramic grades are highlighted as is the value of using cladding materials to improve the robustness, and multi-strike performance, of Hard Armour Plates. Finally, with the drive for lighter, and therefore smaller, soft armour systems for military personnel the challenges for armour designers are reported, and the importance of the relative size of the Hard Armour Plate to the Soft Armour Insert is strongly emphasised.     

Real-time prediction of projectile penetration to laminates by training machine learning models withfinite element solver as the trainer

Studies on ballistic penetration to laminates is complicated, but important for design effective protection of structures. Experimental means of study is expensive and can often be dangerous. Numerical simu-lation has been an excellent supplement, but the computation is time-consuming. Main aim of this thesis was to develop and test an effective tool for real-time prediction of projectile penetrations to laminates by training a neural network and a decision tree regression model. A large number of finite element models were developed;the residual velocities of projectiles fromfinite element simulations were used as the target data and processed to produce sufficient number of training samples. Study focused on steel 4340tpolyurea laminates with various configurations. Four different 3D shapes of the projectiles were modeled and used in the training. The trained neural network and decision tree model was tested using independently generated test samples using finite element models. The predicted projectile velocity values using the trained machine learning models are then compared with thefinite element simulation to verify the effectiveness of the models. Additionally, both models were trained using a published experimental data of projectile impacts to predict residual velocity of projectiles for the unseen samples. Performance of both the models was evaluated and compared. Models trained with Finite element simulation data samples were found capable to give more accurate predication, compared to the models trained with experimental data, becausefinite element modeling can generate much larger training set, and thus finite element solvers can serve as an excellent teacher. This study also showed that neural network model performs better with small experimental dataset compared to decision tree regression model.     

Effects of material of metallic frame on the penetration resistances of ceramic-metal hybrid structures

The effects of metallic material on the penetration resistances of ceramic-metal hybrid structures against vertical long-rod tungsten projectiles were studied by artillery-launched experiments and numerical simulation. Hybrid structures with rectangular cores in transverse orthogonal arrangement and slide-fitting ceramic inserts of zirconia toughened alumina prisms were fabricated with titanium alloy TC4 (Ti6Al4V), AISI 4340 steel and 7075 aluminum alloy panels, respectively. The results showed that the hybrid structure of Ti6Al4V exhibited the highest penetration resistance, followed by that of 7075 aluminum alloy with the same area density. The penetration resistance of the hybrid structure of AISI 4340 steel was the lowest. The underlying mechanisms showed that the metallic material of a ceramic-metal hybrid structure can directly affect its energy absorption from the impact projectile, which further affects its penetration resistance. Different metallic frames exhibited different failure characteristics, resulting in different constraint conditions or support conditions for ceramic prisms. The high penetration resistance of the Ti6Al4V hybrid structure was due to its stronger back support to ceramic prisms as compared with that of AISI 4340 steel hybrid structure, and better constraint condition for ceramic prisms by metallic webs as compared with that of 7075 aluminum alloy hybrid structure. The results of mass efficiency and thickness efficiency showed that the Ti6Al4V hybrid structure has advantages in reducing both the thickness and the mass of protective structure. In addition, because the ceramic-metal hybrid structures in the present work were heterogeneous, impact position has slight influence on their penetration resistances.     

不同截面形状复合长杆弹对陶瓷复合靶板侵彻研究

采用数值模拟技术研究了由3种不同截面形状的钨芯外包覆一层钢,形成的钢包覆层复合长杆弹在入射速度为1200m/s～1700m/s时对陶瓷/金属复合靶板的侵彻过程。结果表明:对于同一入射速度、相同弹体长度、同种材料的弹芯和包覆层以及靶板材料而言,等面积的六边形截面钨芯复合长杆弹的侵彻深度明显大于圆形及方形截面,方形及六边形截面与和它们等外接圆形成的圆形截面复合长杆弹侵彻深度没有明显差别,本研究认为这是与不同截面钨芯的外接圆直径直接相关。六边形截面长杆弹侵彻过程中的自锐化现象是其侵彻深度明显大于其它两种弹体的主要原因。     

高原环境对弹丸动态稳定性的影响

分析了高原环境低空气密度对弹丸动态稳定性的影响。给出了弹道坐标系中的力方程组和非滚转弹体坐标系中的力矩方程组,并通过线性化方法得到弹丸角运动的状态空间模型。列出了角运动状态矩阵的四个特征根,并利用复数平方根计算方法得到特征根实部的表达式。提出弹丸动态稳定性稳定因子的新定义,并证明新的动态稳定条件与传统的动态稳定条件是一致的。讨论了低空气密度对尾翼稳定弹和旋转稳定弹动态稳定性的影响,并通过仿真说明弹丸在高原条件和平原条件下的动态稳定性存在差异。     

长杆射弹对钢纤维混凝土靶开坑特性的实验研究

为考察射弹对钢纤维混凝土靶的侵彻特性,采用57mm轻气炮,进行了小尺寸模拟射弹对钢纤维混凝土靶(钢纤维的体积分数为2%)的侵彻实验。实验中观察了钢纤维混凝土靶的开坑形状,测量了射弹的击靶速度,并且采用注沙法测出靶体的开坑体积,计算出射弹对靶体的侵彻体积,得到了长杆射弹的动能与侵彻体积的关系。引入射弹单位面积的冲击动能和靶体单位侵彻体积的冲击动能,结合钢纤维混凝土靶的实验数据,考察了两者之间的关系。