Multi-Hit Impact Analysis of Ceramic Composite Armours

Abstract

Modern personnel armour are composite consisting of a front ceramic plate and a backing plate typically made of a metal. In most cases, the armour system needs to be able to maintain its integrity under multiple impacts. A numerical investigation is presented in this work to study the ballistic performance of Aluminum Oxide (Al203) ceramic plates bonded to a backing subjected to multi-hit impacts according the NATO AEP-55 STANG 4569 standard. Numerical models were developed using the explicit finite element code LS-DYNA, which possesses contact, erosion and material failure capabilities particularly suitable for ballistic simulation. The Johnson–Holmquist piecewise linear plasticity and plastic kinematic constitutive material models were used to model the materials behaviors of the ceramic, projectile and backing materials, respectively.