Impact perforation of aluminium alloy plates

Abstract

The perforation of aluminium alloy plates subjected to impacts characterised as low-velocity (up to about 20 m/s) and moderate-velocity (20–300 m/s, approximately) are examined in this paper, wherein recent experimental data and some empirical equations have been compared. The threshold velocity for the normal perforation of metal plates focuses on cylindrical projectiles with various shaped impact faces, principally flat. A criterion is suggested in order to distinquish between low-velocity and moderate-velocity impacts.Several new empirical equations have been developed in this paper. Recommendations are made for the use of particular empirical equations that are suitable for estimating the perforation energy of plates in the two impact velocity regimes which have been examined in this article. There is a paucity of experimental data which hinders the development of empirical equations, though surprisingly accurate predictions for perforation velocities are possible to achieve for some practical problems. Nevertheless, numerical studies are required to remove many of the restrictions on the validity of empirical equations, but these methods require a considerable amount of accurate experimental data on the dynamic material properties and failure criteria.