Tile Thickness Research Articles

Experimental and theoretical study of cone angle in alumina tiles under ballistic impact

The ceramic cone formed within the ceramic tiles provides effective ballistic resistance. Although the critical velocity of ceramic cone formation has been extensively studied, the cone angle in ceramic tiles after crack initiation is still unclear, which is important for understanding the anti-penetration process. In this paper, the cone angle in ceramic tiles is systematically investigated both experimentally and theoretically. First, the dynamic failure process of ceramic tiles is characterized by means of ballistic impact experiments, and the results show that the cone angle gradually decreases with the increase of the thickness of the ceramic tile, while it is independent of the impact velocity. Then, based on the minimization of deformation energy and fracture energy, a theoretical model is established for the first time to predict the cone angle, which takes into account the strain rate effect on tensile strength. This model can well explain the effect of the thickness, impact velocity and fracture properties of the ceramic material on the cone angle obtained in experiments. Increasing the thickness of the ceramic tiles results in larger ceramic fragments while the generated fracture energy declines. This leads to a decrease in the cone angle. Moreover, an increase in the fracture toughness or tensile strength of the ceramic material enhances the resistance to crack propagation, and the generated fracture energy decrease, resulting in a decrease in the cone angle. However, the cone angle does not change much with impact velocity because the impact velocity does not change the stress field distribution of the ceramic tile. This study is meaningful for understanding the ballistic resistance of ceramic tiles.

Impact of Nanoparticle Additions on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Ceramic Tiles Production.

The ceramic tile industry, with significant energy and material demands in its manufacturing processes, has employed technological innovations in energy efficiency, advanced equipment and tile thickness reduction to address these challenges. This study aimed to assess the impact of Ag2O, CuFe2O4, Fe3O4, and SiO2 nanoparticles (0%, 1%, and 5% by weight) on the mechanical strength, water absorption, and apparent thermal conductivity of ceramic tiles, as well as their capacity to reduce energy and raw material consumption. This reduction translates into a decrease in environmental impacts, which have been evaluated through life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology applied to the manufacturing processes. Nanoparticles (Ag2O, CuFe2O4, Fe3O4, and SiO2) were initially screened on TF clay (0%, 1%, 5% w/w), and the most effective were applied to CR1 and CR2 clays (0%, 1%, 5% w/w). Findings indicated a 32% increase in temperature gradient and a 16% improvement in flexural strength with the addition of Fe3O4 nanoparticle at 1% (w/w) in TF clay. Furthermore, there was a potential 48% reduction in energy consumption, and up to 16% decrease in tile weight or thickness without affecting the flexural strength property of the test tiles. LCA results demonstrated that the addition of Fe3O4 nanoparticle has potential reductions of up to 20% in environmental impacts. This study suggests that nanoparticle addition offers a viable alternative for reducing energy and material consumption in the ceramic tile industry. Future research should focus on assessing the economic impact of transitioning to a sustainable business model in the ceramic tile industry with nanoparticles addition.

Ballistic performance of composite armor impacted by 7.62 mm armor projectile

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of composite armor against 7.62 mm ballistic threats. A sandwich panel construction consisting of a 96% alumina ceramic strike face, an annealed aluminum alloy 7075 cubic lattice sandwich panel, and a thin aluminum backing plate were used to create hard armor. The ballistic test based on NIJ standard level III was performed using 7.62 mm × 51 mm NATO projectiles at an impact velocity of 847 ± 9.1 m∙s-1. The influences of the alumina strike face panel with thicknesses of 7, 10, and 14 mm on the ballistic performance were investigated. The results of the ballistic test suggest that hard armor designs can resist a ballistic impact of 7.62 mm × 51 mm NATO projectiles without penetrating them. With the increase in thickness of alumina ceramic tile, the deformation of the aluminum backing plate decreased. Furthermore, the annealed aluminum alloy 7075 cubic lattice sandwich panel could be able to absorb the residual kinetic energy of the projectile after it was eroded by the ceramic strike panel. The damaged targets after ballistic impact were presented. Collectively, these results indicate that the armor composites in this study may be used in military vehicle applications.

An experimental and numerical study on the ballistic performance of a lightweight ceramic composite armor

In this paper, the ballistic limit velocity of 12.7mm armor-piercing incendiary projectile impacting a typical lightweight ceramic composite armor made of boron carbide ceramic and multi-layered composite materials (carbon fiber/aramid fiber/ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fiber) was obtained experimentally. The process of impact was numerically simulated by the FEM-SPH method, and the results pointed out the characteristics of the penetration and the energy dissipation rule of each component of the ceramic composite armor. On this basis, the influence of thickness changing of the carbon fiber core layer on the ballistic performance of ceramic composite armor was studied with a typical “sandwich” structure, and the results showed that: when the thickness ratio of ceramic tile to the backing panel is about 1.5, the thickness changing of the carbon fiber core layer has the greatest effect on the ballistic performance. Under this thickness ratio, when the ratio of ceramic tile thickness to bullet diameter is greater than 1, the increase of carbon fiber core layer thickness will cause the ballistic performance index (BPI) of the target to decrease while the ratio is less than 1, the BPI increases or holds at first, and then decreases.

Experimental and numerical investigation on the ballistic performance of aluminosilicate glass with different nosed projectiles

An experimental-numerical investigation on the ballistic perforation of aluminosilicate glass tiles is presented in this study. A gas gun has been used to launch steel projectiles with assorted nose shapes including flat, spherical, and conical into aluminosilicate glass tiles. It is found that the residual velocity of projectiles and the fragmentation behavior of glass are strongly affected by the shape of the projectile nose. A coupled FEM-SPH numerical model is built to reproduce the ballistic impact behavior of aluminosilicate glass. The Johnson-Holmquist Ⅱ (JH-2) constitutive model is utilized to describe the rate-dependent mechanical behavior of the glass tiles. The glass tile model adopts the transformation of the finite elements into smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) elements when the failure criterion is met. This numerical method was validated by comparing with quasi-static compression, Brazilian tension, three-point-bending and dynamic SHPB tests data. The ballistic results from the numerical simulations are compared with experimental data showing good performance in predicting the projectile residual speed, glass tile inelastic deformation and fragmentation process. Finally, the effect of projectile deflection angle and tile thickness on the ballistic behavior of glass is investigated via the proposed model numerically.

Numerical simulation of erosion of misaligned W/Cu monoblocks caused by ITER-like type-Iedge localized modes

The thermal performance of the divertor W/Cu monoblock tiles under the ITER-like transient events has been one of the main concerns for ITER plasma facing components. Owing to the assembly tolerances during installation, the leading edge caused by misalignment between toroidal neighboring tiles will receive the extremely high cumulative heat flux and be damaged. In this work, we develop a two-dimensional heat conductivity model, including evaporation, radiation, melting process, and coupling cooling water condition, to investigate the thermal erosion of two shapes of tiles of W/Cu monoblock (unshaped and beveled tiles) with misalignment in a range from 0 to 0.3 mm, within the allowable maximum misalignment for ITER. To reflect the geometrical effects of castellated divertor tiles on the properties of its adjacent plasma, the energy flux density distribution arriving at the castellated divertor tile surface is evaluated first by using a two-dimension-in-space and three-dimension-in-velocity particle-in-cell plus Monte Carlo collisions code, and the obtained energy flux distribution is then used as input for the heat conduction model. The simulation results show that the maximum temperature of the unshaped tile with no misalignment is lower than that of the beveled tile under the steady-state inter-ELM heat flux, which increases more quickly than that of the beveled tile with misalignment increasing and will be larger than that of the beveled tile when misalignment is not less than 0.105 mm. Two shapes of the divertor tiles would melt and vaporize under typical heat flux density of a transient event of type-I edge localized modes (ELMs) for ITER, deposition energy of 1 MJ·m<sup>–2</sup> in a duration of 600 μs. The highest temperature, the maximum melting thickness, the maximum vaporization thickness of the unshaped tile with no misalignment are higher than those of the beveled tile except the melting volume ratio. The thermal erosion of the unshaped tile increases more remarkably than that of the beveled tile with misalignment increasing, and the melting volume ratio of the unshaped tile will exceed that of the beveled tile at a misalignment of 0.17 mm. In comparison with the unshaped tile, the beveled tile is more resistant to such a high heat flux of an ELM and misalignment.

High-velocity impact study of an advanced ceramic using finite element model coupling with a machine learning approach

A numerical approach combining finite element modeling and machine learning is used to inform the material performance of an alumina ceramic tile undergoing high-velocity impact. In this study, the alumina ceramic tile is simulated by incorporating a user-defined Johnson–Holmquist–Beissel (JHB) material model within the framework of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) in LS-DYNA finite element software. The implementation of the JHB model is verified by comparing equivalent stress–pressure responses through a single element simulation test. After implementation, the computational framework is simulated across our chosen range of conditions by matching the results from both plate impact experiments and ballistic testing from the literature. The computational model is then used to generate training data sets for an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the residual velocity and projectile erosion for an alumina ceramic tile undergoing high-velocity impact in the SPH framework. The ANN is then used to perform a sensitivity analysis involving exploring the effect of mechanical properties (e.g., strength and shear modulus) and impact simulation geometries (e.g., thickness of ceramic tile) on material performance (i.e., residual projectile velocity and erosion). Overall, this study shows the capability of the FEM-ANN approach in studying the high-velocity impact on ceramic tiles and is applicable to guide the structural-scale design of ceramic-based protection systems.

Chemical modification of porcelain tile surface to optimize flexural strength and Weibull modulus through the ion exchange process

The goal of this research was to improve the ion exchange mechanism in porcelain tiles by modifying the tile surface chemically. Ion exchange, also known as chemical tempering, is a procedure for improving the mechanical qualities of porcelain tiles. So, solutions comprising alkaline and alkaline earth metals with a low ionic radius were sprayed on the surfaces of pressed unfired porcelain tiles (lithium, calcium, and magnesium). Subsequently, the porcelain tiles were sintered at the maximum densification temperature (1200 °C). The ion exchange process was carried out at 480 °C for 25 min in a eutectic mixture of molten salts with 73 wt% KNO3 and 27 wt% Ba(NO3)2. The results show that the flexural strength of the Li+/Mg+2 surface-enriched samples was 75 ± 4 MPa, representing an increase of 32% in relation to non-treated porcelain tiles and an increase of 17% in relation to the chemically tempered samples without prior modification. A significantly larger Weibull modulus (15–20) were found for the chemically modified tiles in comparison with the value for the unmodified porcelain tiles (7–8). These findings demonstrated that chemical modification of the porcelain surface can optimize the ion exchange process, resulting in increased breaking force and, as a result, flexural strength and Young's modulus. This approach can help reduce the thickness of ceramic tiles while maintaining mechanical properties. This would result in lower raw material usage and energy expenditure during production, as well as lower carbon emissions associated with the production of porcelain tiles.

Penetration Resistance of Cast Metal−Ceramic Composite Lattice Structures

A challenging issue in armor mechanics is to optimize the impact resistance of a target per unit areal mass. Herein, the penetration resistance of an A356 alloy–ceramic lattice structure with ceramic tiles encapsulated in the metal matrix is experimentally and computationally studied to achieve this objective. A hybrid additive manufacturing/metal‐casting technique is used to fabricate the structure. The performance is experimentally evaluated by impacting the tiles at normal incidence with 0.30‐cal armor‐piercing projectiles and 7.62 M80 rounds traveling at high speed. X‐ray imaging and electron microscopy techniques are used to ascertain the quality of the castings and the damage caused to the target by the projectiles. The cast material is tested following ASTM standard E8/E8M to determine the yield stress and hardening coefficients in the Johnson–Cook model. Large deformations of the components are analyzed using the finite element software LS‐DYNA. The penetrator's computed residual velocities differ from their test values by less than 4% for the 0.30‐cal projectiles and 19% for the ball rounds. The effects of several design variables (e.g., tile thickness and location, among others) are numerically scrutinized. The proposed design is ≈20% lighter than the solid metal target to achieve the same residual velocity of the penetrator.

Hydro deformation in ceramic tiles at the pre-firing stage

The production of ceramic tiles with larger sizes and reduced thickness has increased the challenge of producing high-quality ceramic tiles in short single-firing cycles. For porcelain tiles, the pressing step is of upmost importance for the microstructure of the green bodies. The particle size distribution, mineral composition of the pastes and porosity before firing define the water flow during the decoration process. Hydro deformation is the curvature of unfired ceramic tiles caused by water absorption during the decoration step before firing. In this work, the hydro deformation is studied in function of tile thickness, compaction, and clay composition according to a 2K factorial design. Two compositions of porcelain tiles (glazed and polished) were pressed at two thicknesses (3–6 mm) and pressing pressures (35.5–49.8 MPa) forming ceramic tiles with 55 × 110 mm² of surface area. Chemical (XRF), mineralogical (XRD), thermogravimetric (TG), specific surface area (BET), granulometric, bulk density, and porosity analyses were performed for the green tiles of both compositions. To simulate the hydro deformation during the decoration step, the curvature (mm) of the tiles was studied within a 0–180 min interval. The water absorption rate through the surface (g.m−2·s−1) of the tiles in an interval of 0–180 s was studied as a function of thickness, pressure and porcelain tile composition. As a result, the thickness of the tiles can change the curvatures from concave to convex. Pressing conditions and composition of the tiles can change the water absorption rates. Porcelain tiles with higher content of clay minerals develop convex curvatures. For tiles with lower content of clay minerals, concave curvatures were developed.

Conceptual design and heat transfer performance of a flat-tile water-cooled divertor target

The divertor target components for the Chinese fusion engineering test reactor (CFETR) and the future experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST) need to remove a heat flux of up to ∼20 MW m−2. In view of such a high heat flux removal requirement, this study proposes a conceptual design for a flat-tile divertor target based on explosive welding and brazing technology. Rectangular water-cooled channels with a special thermal transfer structure (TTS) are designed in the heat sink to improve the flat-tile divertor target’s heat transfer performance (HTP). The parametric design and optimization methods are applied to study the influence of the TTS variation parameters, including height (H), width (W*), thickness (T), and spacing (L), on the HTP. The research results show that the flat-tile divertor target’s HTP is sensitive to the TTS parameter changes, and the sensitivity is T > L > W* > H. The HTP first increases and then decreases with the increase of T, L, and W* and gradually increases with the increase of H. The optimal design parameters are as follows: H = 5.5 mm, W* = 25.8 mm, T = 2.2 mm, and L = 9.7 mm. The HTP of the optimized flat-tile divertor target at different flow speeds and tungsten tile thicknesses is studied using the numerical simulation method. A flat-tile divertor mock-up is developed according to the optimized parameters. In addition, high heat flux (HHF) tests are performed on an electron beam facility to further investigate the mock-up HTP. The numerical simulation calculation results show that the optimized flat-tile divertor target has great potential for handling the steady-state heat load of 20 MW m−2 under the tungsten tile thickness <5 mm and the flow speed ≥7 m s−1. The heat transfer efficiency of the flat-tile divertor target with rectangular cooling channels improves by ∼13% and ∼30% compared to that of the flat-tile divertor target with circular cooling channels and the ITER-like monoblock, respectively. The HHF tests indicate that the flat-tile divertor mock-up can successfully withstand 1000 cycles of 20 MW m−2 of heat load without visible deformation, damage, and HTP degradation. The surface temperature of the flat-tile divertor mock-up at the 1000th cycle is only ∼930 °C. The flat-tile divertor target’s HTP is greatly improved by the parametric design and optimization method, and is better than the ITER-like monoblock and the flat-tile mock-up for the WEST divertor. This conceptual design is currently being applied to the engineering design of the CFETR and EAST flat-tile divertors.

Test beam study of SiPM-on-tile configurations

Light yield and spatial uniformity for a large variety of configurations of scintillator tiles were studied. The light from each scintillator was collected by a Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) directly viewing the produced scintillation light (SiPM-on-tile technique).The varied parameters included tile transverse size, tile thickness, tile wrapping material, scintillator composition, and SiPM model.These studies were performed using 120 GeV protons at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. External tracking allowed the position of each proton penetrating a tile to be measured. The results were compared to a GEANT4 simulation of each configuration of scinitillator, wrapping, and SiPM.

Improving the sustainability of ceramic tile production in Turkey

The concept of environmental sustainability and its applications in the ceramic industry has been raised due to the environmental issues related to the construction sector. This study evaluated and compared the environmental impacts of ceramic tiles manufactured by the current production technologies. Four different cleaner scenarios are applied based on cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment. Scenario A refers to the energy recovery to supply heat for the drying process. Scenario B is related to efficient combustion. Scenario C relates to reducing the thickness of ceramic tiles to minimize energy consumption and save raw materials. Scenario D is a combination of the other scenarios. According to the results, the tile production stage is the main hotspot for all the impact categories except abiotic depletion and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential for all the cases. Scenario D has a 22% reduction in ozone layer depletion. The greenest option for glazed ceramic tile production is Scenario D. This scenario has the lowest global warming potential, being 21% lower than the base case. The findings of this paper could assist the government and ceramic producers in developing robust strategies for improving the sustainability of the Turkish construction sector and contributing to the country's greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

Mineralogical Characterization of Carreaux de Pavement from Northern Spain (Tiebas, Navarre)

Several medieval tiles from Tiebas Castle in Navarre, classified as carreaux de pavement, were mineralogically analyzed. The aim was to add information to the very scarce analytical data available for carreaux de pavement in order to provide a quality primary work, mainly descriptive, in this topic. The characterization techniques applied were: optical microscopy (OM), colorimetry, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetry (DTA-TG), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, petrographic microscopy (PM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The tiles comprised three layers: a top glaze with mainly silicon and lead-based compounds; a thin layer of silicoaluminate (very possibly kaolinite) called engobe under it; and the pastes, composed of quartz, hematite, potassium feldspars and calcite. Honey glazes were richer in iron, being copper-based compounds responsible for dark green glazes. The orangish-reddish color of the pastes was provided by hematite. Although the tiles were found in three different locations within the castle, no significant differences were detected among them. The carreaux de pavement from Tiebas had similarities with that from the Bordeaux region. According to the composition data and thickness of tiles from other French carreaux de pavement, the Tiebas artifacts were dated to the 13th century.

Cu2O–ZnO heterojunction solar cell coupled to a Ni(OH)2-rGO-PPy supercapacitor within a porous stoneware tile

Coupling photovoltaic solar energy (PV) generation with its storage for full availability is a key challenge for sustainable PVs. Tile integration of both can turn buildings or other urban structures, onto autonomous power units for low consumption electronics, sensors, and different e-services, through film printed electronics, ubiquitously available for future smart cities, support the deployment of the internet of things, and closing the gap to net zero energy buildings.Starting from a porous stoneware tile, an electroless conductive Ni–Mo–P layer is the starting point for infiltrating on the connected porosity (3D free structure) of the tile thickness a nanostructured Ni(OH)2-rGO-PPy composite acting as supercapacitor. On the open conductive surface an optimized p-Cu2O/n-ZnO heterojunction was grown integrating a coupled charge-storage electrical circuit seamlessly on a commercial tile. The research presented on this paper has allowed the first experimental results of an autonomous, low-cost, energy supply system for future development of building integrated electronics.

The bubble problem of the plasma facing material: A finite element study

The damage of first wall material in fusion reactor due to the bubbles caused by plasma has been studied by introducing a relation between the von Mises equivalent stress and the temperature field. The locations and shapes of the bubbles and the synergetic effect between the different bubbles under steady operational conditions have been studied using the finite elements method. Under transient heat loads, plastic deformations have been found to occur, and are significantly enhanced by the presence of the bubbles. The calculated concentration locations of von Mises equivalent stress are well consistent with the observed crack positions of the tungsten surface in many test experiments. Our simulations show that the damage of the bubbles is not severe enough to lead to catastrophic failure of the tungsten armor; however, it can cause local and gradual detachment of tungsten surface, which provides a reasonable explanation for the observed pits and rough or hairy surface morphology etc. Considering the transient heat loads, the lower bound of the security thickness of the tungsten tile is estimated to be greater than 2 mm.

Influence of prestress on ballistic performance of bi-layer ceramic composite armors: Experiments and simulations

The effect of prestress on the ballistic performance of bi-layer ceramic composite armors was explored both experimentally and numerically. Three types of target plate with different prestress levels were prepared using the method of shrink-fit, and tested with ballistic experiments. Residual velocity and length of the projectile were recorded and failure mode of each target was examined. A numerical technique was also proposed to explore the penetration process of projectile and the enhancement mechanism of prestress, with the effectiveness of simulation results validated by experimental measurements. Prestressing the ceramic led to more kinetic energy dissipated by plastic deformation and erosion of the projectile, causing more than 25% increase in ballistic limit. The effects of key geometrical parameters – thickness and diameter of ceramic tile – on ballistic limit were systematically explored, and a critical tile thickness for the influence of prestressing on ballistic performance was identified.

Microstructure and ballistic performance of hot pressed & reaction bonded boron carbides against an armour piercing projectile

ABSTRACTA comparative study on ballistic performance of hot pressed boron carbide (HPBC) and reaction bonded boron carbide (RBBC) tiles were performed using depth of penetration (DOP) configuration against 7.62 mm AP ammunition. Both HPBC and RBBC tiles were characterised for their phase contents and properties. Ballistic efficiency was calculated using the newly developed normalised ballistic efficiencies, normalised differential efficiency factor & normalised ballistic efficiency, in order to eliminate the influence of backing material on ballistic efficiency. It was found that for similar tile thickness, the residual shot weight and residual DOP of HPBC tiles were lesser than that of RBBC tiles. Normalised ballistic efficiencies, for both HPBC and RBBC ceramics, showed a higher ballistic performance for HPBC than RBBC tiles.

Numerical study on three-point bending behavior of honeycomb sandwich with ceramic tile

Honeycomb sandwich structures have been extensively investigated in the past decades. A kind of innovative honeycomb sandwich with ceramic tile (ceramic sandwich), was investigated here for its bending behavior by using finite-element model implemented in Abaqus/Explicit code. In our studies, a series numerical simulations of three-point bending were carried out for the ceramic sandwich and conventional aluminum honeycomb sandwich. Their numerical models were validated by experiments. As confirmed that the ceramic tile largely enhances the stiffness of the structure, which contributes a lot to the promotion of the bending resistance capacity. Parametric studies were performed to further investigate the effects brought from the ceramic tile and honeycomb core in terms of changing the thickness of ceramic tile, the thickness of honeycomb wall, the length of honeycomb cells. It was found that the bending performance heavily relay on the geometric configuration of the present sandwich panel. In addition, the ceramic sandwich with reinforced honeycomb core also shows better mechanical behavior in the simulation. All these achievements provide more likelihood of designing composited high-performance sandwich.

Aluminum–nickel combustion for joining lunar regolith ceramic tiles

Combustion-based methods are attractive for space manufacturing because the use of chemical energy stored in reactants dramatically decreases the required external energy input. Recently, a sintering technique has been developed for converting lunar/Martian regolith into ceramic tiles, but it is unclear how to build a reliable launch/landing pad from these tiles with small amounts of energy and materials. Here we explored the feasibility of joining the regolith tiles using self-propagating high-temperature reactions between two metal powders. Combustion of an aluminum/nickel mixture placed in a gap between two tiles, made of JSC-1A lunar regolith simulant, was studied in an argon environment at 1 kPa pressure. Stable propagation of the combustion front was observed over the tested range of distances between the tiles, 2–8 mm. The front velocity increases with increasing the distance between the tiles. Joining of the tiles was achieved in several experiments and improvement with increasing the tile thickness was observed. Thermophysical properties of the tiles, the reactive mixture, and the reaction product were determined using differential scanning calorimetry and laser flash analysis. A model for steady propagation of the combustion wave over a condensed substance layer placed between two inert media was applied for analysis of the investigated system. Testing the model has resulted in reasonable agreement between the experimental and modeling dependencies. Both experimental and modeling results indicate a narrow quenching distance in the investigated system, which implies that a small amount of the reactive mixture would be required for sintering regolith tiles on the Moon.