Mechanics of penetration of ceramic targets

Abstract

A model for the penetration of a ceramic target with the formation of an expanding conical hole is proposed that can be used to determine the apex angle of the cone knocked out from the target. The main cause of this fracture of ceramic targets is that the tensile strength of a ceramic material is much lower than its compressive strength. A method for calculating the maximum penetration velocity in a ceramic target without substrate was developed using the energy fracture criterion for ceramics. Two-dimensional numerical simulation of the impact of a steel projectile on a corundum plate showed satisfactory agreement between the calculated and experimental configurations of the resulting conical crack provided that the ratio between the compressive and tensile strengths corresponds to the recommendations of the developed model.