An Experimental and Numerical Study on the Ballistic Performance of Multi-Layered Moderately-Thick Metallic Targets against 12.7-mm Projectiles

The main goal of this work is to study the ballistic performance of multi-layered moderately-thick metallic targets. Several target configurations have been considered in this work, with various types of interlayer connection (spaced, contacted and adhesive) and the number of layers (four and eight), and the influence of target configurations on ballistic performance has been studied experimentally and numerically. In the experiments, the targets were impacted by 12.7-mm projectiles at a velocity around 820 m/s. The experimental results show that, with similar total thickness, the contacted and adhesive targets exhibit better ballistic performance than the monolithic targets, and the four-layered targets are better than the eight-layered targets with the same connection type. To explore the ballistic resistance mechanism, numerical method has been used to simulate the penetration process of each target. The numerical results indicate that petal formation and friction have significant influence on targets' ballistic performance. Friction has stronger influence on the multi-layered targets than on the monolithic ones. According to the numerical results, about 14% of projectile's initial kinetic energy is dissipated by friction during penetrating the four-layered contacted target, which is proved to be the most effective type of target studied in this work. The results also indicate that, in contrast to common understanding, friction plays an important role even when the impact velocity is significantly higher than the ballistic limit. The outcome of this work may provide useful information for a better understanding of ballistic resistant mechanisms and more efficient utilization of multi-layered metallic targets in armor structural design.

Automated summary

The main goal of this study is to investigate the ballistic performance of multi-layered moderately-thick metallic targets. Experimental and numerical methods were used to analyze the influence of target configurations (interlayer connection and number of layers) on the ballistic performance. The results show that contacted and adhesive targets exhibit better performance than monolithic targets, and four-layered targets outperform eight-layered targets with the same connection type. Numerical simulations indicate that petal formation and friction play significant roles in the ballistic performance of the targets.