Research on ceramic fragmentation behavior of lightweight ceramic/metal composite armor during vertical penetration

In order to investigated the ceramic fragmentation behavior of light ceramic composite armor in the process of anti penetration, the ballistic impact test of ceramic/metal composite armor with 12.7mm penetrating projectile under different back cover thickness and ceramic thickness was carried out, the target was installed in a recycling bin, and the recovery rate of ceramic fragments was above 95%. By observed, the macroscopic failure characteristics of the recovered target ceramics, the relationship between different thickness combinations and the main failure characteristics of the ceramics was analyzed, and through the multi-stage screening and weighing of ceramic fragments, the fragment size distribution law of ceramic fragments with different thickness combinations was analyzed. The results showed that the fracture cone of ceramic was the main failure characteristic of the ceramic panel, and the macroscopic crack mainly included radial crack, ring crack and conical crack. The ceramic cone could be subdivided into a ceramic cone composed of small powdered ceramic fragments caused by high compression stress and a ceramic cone composed of large ceramic fragments caused by stress wave. The size distribution of ceramic fragments in the ceramic cone after impact satisfied the Rosin-Rammler distribution model. With the increased of the thickness of the back plate, the half cone Angle of the ceramic cone increased, which led to the increased of the overall volume of the ceramic cone and the proportion of the broken zone. The resulting ceramic fragments were mainly large size fragments, and the overall broken size in the ceramic cone increased. When the ceramic thickness increased, the half cone Angle and the number of radial cracks remained basically unchanged, the proportion of the crushing zone in the ceramic cone increased, and the overall crushing size decreased.