INFLUENCE OF CERAMIC THICKNESS ON THE BALLISTIC EFFICIENCY OF CERAMIC-GLASS-PLASTICS COMPOSITES

摘要

Conventional transparent armour consists of glass laminates with polymer interlayers and backing. A significant weight reduction can be achieved by means of a hard front layer of transparent ceramics. A parametric study was conducted in order to determine not only the threshold ceramic thickness needed to effect erosion and fracture of the steel core, but also to examine if there is an optimum ceramic or glass weight fraction. Targets of three areal density classes in the range from 48 kg/m~2 to59 kg/m~2 were tested with 7.62 mm x 51 AP FN projectiles at 850 m/s. AD995 (trade name CAP-3) Al_2O_3-ceramic of CoorsTek and a fully dense, translucent A12O3-ceramic of 0.6 μm grain size, manufactured by the Fraunhofer-Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Sintered Materials (IKTS), were used to simulate the transparent ceramic. The thickness of the ceramic layer was varied between 1 mm and 8 mm which corresponds to ceramic weight fractions in the range from 7 to 70 %.