Protection mechanism of B4C–TiB2–SiC composite ceramic under ultra-high velocity impact

Abstract

As the penetration technology develops and the projectile velocity increases, it becomes imperative to investigate the protection mechanism of high-performance ceramic under hypervelocity impact. The impact process of tungsten alloy projectile penetrated into B4C–TiB2–SiC composite ceramic target using ballistic test and finite element simulation at an ultra-high velocity of 2154 m/s was researched in the present study. Additionally, the protection mechanisms were described in terms of the morphology of target damage, the behavior of projectile kinetic energy dissipation, and the temperature field cloud. The findings from the ballistic experiments highlighted that the formation of macro-damage areas (concentrated damage, cone crack, circumferential crack, and radial crack areas) and micro-fragmentation zones could consume a significant amount of impact energy. The mixed fracture mode and the typical inelastic deformation characteristics (dislocations and micro-twinning) contributed to the energy dissipation. Simulation results indicated that the surface dwell effect of the projectile exhibited the highest rate of energy consumption. Furthermore, the temperature field results indicated that the maximum temperature on composite ceramic surface could reach 2310 K, which was below the melting point of B4C ceramic (2723 K). However, this temperature could cause the melting of the majority of metal materials. Therefore, ceramic materials exhibited a significant advantage under conditions of ultra-high impact velocities.