CERAMIC SPHERE FRONT FACE ARMOR SYSTEM PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT AGAINST RIFLED PROJECTILES

Abstract

Current ceramic body armor consists of a monolithic front plate. These monolithic plates have performance degradation issues from fracture due to both multi-hit damage and mishandling. In addition, the plates provide no flexibility. Ceramic spheres have a demonstrated higher mass efficiency compared to monolithic ceramic plates against spherical projectiles and avoid current issues found within monolithic ceramic plates. Within this thesis, rifled projectiles were used to assess the performance and mass efficiency of single-layer ceramic sphere matrices as a front face armor system. Ceramic sphere armor systems varied by ceramic chemistry, diameter size, and encapsulation. A 25.4 mm smooth bore light gas gun was used in combination with a high-speed video camera to capture the initial and terminal velocity after ballistic impact of a 0.30 caliber M2AP projectile with the front face ceramic armor systems. Both the total work and mass efficiency were calculated and compared between both ceramic spheres and monolithic ceramic plate body armor systems.