Experimental and numerical study on the ballistic performance of laminated ceramics

Abstract

The ballistic performances of laminated ceramics were investigated experimentally and numerically and then compared with monolithic ceramics. Sixteen ceramic configurations were generated using two geometry types (hexagonal and square) and combination of three ceramic materials (Al2O3, SiC, and B4C). Depth of Penetration ballistic tests were employed to evaluate their ballistic performance. According to the results, monolithic ceramic has higher ballistic performance than all laminated ceramic combinations. In laminated ceramics, using thicker ceramic on the strike-face increases the ballistic efficiency more than using it on the backing face. In addition, when a backing-face ceramic is combined with a more efficient strike-face ceramic, the ballistic performance is better than combination of same ceramic material. Lastly, finite element analysis were performed to simulate some of the tested configurations having SiC ceramic type. A similar trend was observed between the simulations and the tests.