1Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad-500 058.
2Advanced Systems Laboratory, Hyderabad-500 058.
3Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi-110 016.
An experimental study has been carried out to evaluate the influence of confinement of alumina ceramic tiles through polymer restraint, on its ballistic performance. Tiles of 99.5 per cent purity alumina were subjected to ballistic impact against 7.62 mm armour piercing projectiles at velocities of about 820 m/s. The tiles of size 75 mm x 75 mm x 7 mm were confined on both faces by effectively bonding varying numbers of layers of polymer fabrics. These were then bonded to a 10 mm thick fibre glass laminate as a backing using epoxy resin. High performance polyethylene and aramid polymer fabrics were used in the current set of experiments for restraining the tiles. Comparative effects of confinement on energy absorption of tiles with varied number of layers of fabrics were evaluated. It was observed that by providing effective confinement to the tile, energy absorption could be doubled with increase in areal density by about 13 per cent. Photographs of the damage and the effects of restraint on improvement in energy absorption of ceramic tiles are presented and discussed.
Alumina ceramic, ballistic impact, polymer fibres, confinement, projectile
