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.     

Round robin using the depth of penetration test method on an armour grade alumina

The depth of penetration (DOP) method is a well-known ballistic test method for characterisation and ranking of ceramic armour materials. The ceramic tile is bonded to a backing material of semi-infinite thickness, and the penetration depth of the projectile gives a measure of the performance of the ceramic. There is, however, an inherent variability in the results from this test method. In this work, the accuracy and the variability of the DOP method has been investigated in a round robin exercise. Six ballistic test centres took part in the exercise. A test protocol was developed, in which the threat type (projectile and impact conditions) and a procedure on how to prepare the targets were specified. The targets consisted of alumina tiles of two different thicknesses that were bonded to polycarbonate backing cubes. Two different 7.62 mm armour piercing projectiles were employed; one with a hard steel core and one with a tungsten carbide core. The projectiles and the other materials all came from single material batches in order to avoid batch-to-batch variations in material properties. These materials were distributed between the ballistic test centres. The test results of the different ballistic test facilities were collected and compared. There was not a lot of variation between the average DOP values obtained at each laboratory, but the variation in penetration depth between shots was high. The consequence of this variation may be less confidence in the test results, and a statistical method was used to evaluate the required number of tests that are sufficient to obtain an average result with high confidence. In most cases, the required number of tests is much higher than what is practically feasible. This work was conducted as part of the European Defence Agency-project CERAMBALL.     

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.     

烧结助剂对热压SiCw/Si3N4复合材料性能的影响

本文通过热压的方法分别制得以Ｙ２Ｏ３－Ａｌ２Ｏ３和Ｙ２Ｏ３－Ｌａ２Ｏ３为烧结助剂的ＳｉＣｗ／Ｓｉ３Ｎ４陶瓷基复合材料，对比了采用不同种类及含量的烧结助剂的ＳｉＣｗ／Ｓｉ３Ｎ４复合材料的性能结果，发现烧结助剂的种类及含量对ＳｉＣｗ／Ｓｉ３Ｎ４复合材料的弯曲强度和断裂韧性有明显的影响，对高温弯曲强度的影响尤为显著。     

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.