Abstract:
The resistance offered by three ceramic materials of varying strength that have
been subjected to explosive loading has been investigated by depth-of-
penetration testing. Each material was completely penetrated by a tungsten
carbide cored projectile and the residual penetration into a ductile aluminium
alloy backing material was measured. The resulting ballistic performance of each
damaged ceramic was found to be similar implying that the resistance offered to
the projectile by the damaged ceramic is not dependent on the intrinsic strength
properties of the intact material. This was taken as evidence that the important
controlling parameter for enhancing the ballistic performance of a damaged
ceramic material was not the strength of the ceramic but rather the fragment
morphology.
