In this paper,we report our numerical work on the ballistic penetration of various armor designs by a 20 mm fragment-simulating projectile at a velocity of 1000 m/s.For the design with monolithic metal plate,numerical simulations show that final failure of the plate is tearing of the metallic material.Incorporation of ceramic material (i.e.,metal/ceramic armor)changes the final failure mode of the armors to plastic bending and stretching of the backing plate.Two types of metal/ceramic designs are studied.One consists of ceramic layer backed by a metal plate,with or without a front metallic faceplate.The other metal/ceramic design utilizes the honeycomb structure and is made by filling the free space in a honeycomb-core sandwich panel with solid ceramics.The ballistic limits (the minimum mass required to stop the projectile)associated with all the designs are obtained and compared.Finite element calculations show that incorporation of ceramic gives a benefit of mass reduction of 20-30%.While utilizing honeycomb structure slightly improves the ballistic limits (compared with the case of ceramic layer backed by metal plate),it could remarkably reduce the deformation of the backing plate at ballistic limits.It is also found that for all metal/ceramic designs,the front faceplate does not contribute to improve the ballistic performances.
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