Applying Tate's model for the interaction of long rod projectiles with ceramic targets

Abstract

The penetration of ceramic tiles by long rod penetrators is discussed in terms of the modified hydrodynamic theory of A. Tate which was developed for thick metallic targets. The resistance of the tile to penetration is determined with the threshold velocity for the penetration of a very large ceramic block. According to Tate's theory, the threshold impact velocity for a given projectile (with a well defined strength) depends only on the tile's resistance to penetration. We show here that using three different projectiles (copper, steel and tungsten) resulted in the same value for this parameter for thick alumina tiles. This fact strongly enhances the idea of applying Tate's theory to ceramics. A different set of experiments, with relatively thin tiles bonded to thick steel plates, was performed determining penetration depths of the long rods into the steel backing. These were compared with predictions based on Tate's model using the values for the penetration resistance, which were determined by thick tile experiments. The good agreement can be considered as a further confirmation of our main thesis. Resistance of penetration parameters ( R t) were determined for other ceramics (silicon carbide, titanium diboride, etc.) by measuring the penetration depths of the long rod projectile into the thick backing and using Tate's model with R t as a parameter.