Developing an Alternative to Roma Plastilina #1 as a Ballistic Backing Material for the Ballistic Testing of Body Armor

Ballistic clay (Roma Plastilina #1; RP1) is currently used as a backing material that is meant to simulate the penetration resistance of the human body during the ballistic testing of body armor. RP1 is a modeling clay with a primary market in the artistic community. Over time, RP1’s formulation and performance have changed to meet the demands of the artistic community. As a result, RP1 must now be heated to 100 °F to obtain the desired response and exhibits a strong temperature-dependent performance such that the backing material is considered out of calibration after 45 min. This presentation will focus on our efforts to develop a replacement for RP1 that exhibits the desired backing material response at room temperature with minimal temperature-dependence. Specifically, the challenges of designing a viscoplastic material with a controlled response that exhibits dimensional stability while providing minimal elastic recovery from deformation even at high strain rates and linking the quasistatic mechanical response with the ballistic performance.