Cover Confinement and Ballistic Performance of TiC-TiB2 Ceramic Armor under the Impact of Long-Rod KE Penetrator of 1400 m·s-1

Abstract

By conducting DOP test to evaluate the ballistic performance of confined TiC-TiB2 ceramic targets against long-rod tungsten alloy penetrators under the impact of 1400 m · s-1, the coorelations of the steel cover confining the ceramic tile and ballistic performance of TiC-TiB2 ceramic targets were discussed. The results of ballistic testing showed that the steel covers in thickness of 1.5 mm and 3.5 mm failed to support laterally-confined ceramics due to their insufficient stiffness, resulting in poor ballistic performance of the ceramic targets with the mass efficiency smaller than 2.0. The cover in thickness larger than 10 mm had enough stiffness to ensure the mass efficiency of the ceramic target higher than 2.5. It is considered that with minimal front-surface confinement, the ejecta plume of the pulverized ceramic becomes less divergent, and this focusing of the ejected materials has the effect of further eroding the penetrator, thereby increasing the ballistic performance of the ceramic.