Determination of ballistic resistance of cementitious composites

Abstract

Abstract The paper describes the possibility of using the DOP test, standardly used to evaluate the ballistic resistance of ceramics, to determine the ballistic resistance of cement composites. DOP - Depth of penetration test - is based on measurement of residual penetration of projectile in witness system after the sample perforation; this parameter is used to determine differential efficiency factor (DEF), characterizing the ballistic resistance of the particular material. To verify the method for non-ceramic materials, four variants of cementitious composites with compressive strengths in the range of 30–150 MPa have been tested. The obtained results confirm the method’s suitability for determining the ballistic resistance of cement composites in terms of ease of implementation, sensitivity, and accuracy of the obtained results for both composites of common strengths and high-performance variants. The paper also discusses some aspects of the relationship between the mechanical parameters of cement composites under static loading and their ballistic resistance.