Micromechanical Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Chain-Mail Armor

The microstructure of chain-mail (CM) armor consists of a network of small links that are connected together to form a sheet. A network-type model, amenable to straightforward numerical simulation, is formulated, where the links are modeled as supporting only axial (tensile) loading, and where the interconnections are idealized as three-dimensional frictionless pin-joints. Because of its use as a ballistic shield, the strain-rate dependent thermo-mechanical (viscoplastic) response is important, due to thermal softening. The philosophy behind the proposed direct modeling approach is to harness the dramatic increases in readily available scientific computing to simulate realistic responses of structural CM, by starting directly at the microscale, where relatively simple description of the material is possible. By employing enough of these simple structural elements, one can build an entire macroscale sheet of CM. The deformation of the CM is dictated by solving a (“link-coupled”) system of differential equations for the motion of the interconnected masses. Large-scale simulations, illustrating the thermomechanical response of chain-mail material armor, undergoing impact with a rigid indenter, are presented to illustrate the potential of the approach in delivering realistic responses, involving dynamic rupture and penetration of structural CM.