Performance of Ceramic-Composite Armors under Ballistic Impact Loading

Analysis of typical ceramic-composite armors is presented for their ballistic impact performance. Specifically, armor configurations are given for enhancing ballistic limit velocity with minimum armor areal density. The studies are performed using the analytical model presented earlier (Naik et al. in Int J Damage Mech 22(2):145–187, 2013). Wave theory and energy balance between the kinetic energy of the moving projectile and the energy absorbed by different mechanisms by both the armor and the projectile are considered. Analytical predictions and typical experimental results available in the literature are compared. A good match is observed. It is observed that in certain range of armor areal density, ballistic limit velocity remains the same. The explanation for such a behavior is provided considering different major energy absorbing mechanisms at different areal densities of the armor. Further, effects of armor configuration, incident impact velocity and ceramic plate material on ballistic impact performance are presented. Among the ceramic plate materials considered, alumina 99.9% gives higher ballistic limit velocity.