Description
The qualification of armour panels involves both the determination of the ballistic limit through specific statistics and the evaluation of Behind Armour Blunt Trauma (BABT) using a witness material behind the panels. This presentation focuses on an example of performance evaluation of UHMWPE composite based armour panels. The initial aim was to distinguish changes in ballistic response between two very similar armour batches, including field aged and newly manufactured samples. However, the complexity of the interactions in the ballistic systems studied, from projectile/armour to projectile/armour/target, was rather highlighted by the scatter of the measured quantities. Furthermore, ballistic plastilina, a thixotropic fluid, is commonly used as a witness material for BABT assessment. However, its mechanical response needs to be calibrated and it has been observed that its response varies significantly due to factors such as composition, texture or impact sequence. Therefore, to better understand its mechanics, a capillary rheometry analysis was carried out to determine the viscosity function and flow curve. This approach was then validated experimentally and numerically using the calibration protocol and an adapted Taylor impact test. Ultimately, these investigations should enable researchers in the field of terminal ballistics to better understand the mechanics of impact processes involving projectile armour and targets, the latter being either a witness material or the human body.| Period | 27 Jan 2025 |
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| Held at | Unité de Mécanique de Lille - Joseph Boussinesq (UML), France |
| Degree of Recognition | International |