PROJECTILE PERFORATION OF MOVING PLATES - EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION

An experimental investigation was conducted to examine the normal impa ct and perforation of blunt- and 60 degrees-conically-tipped 12.7 mm d iameter hard-steel cylindrical projectiles on plates moving orthogonal to their initial trajectory with three different speeds. By means of an air or powder gun, these bullets were propelled at speeds ranging f rom 50 to 1000 m/s against rotating annular disks of aluminum, steel a nd polycarbonate. The impact process consisted of the two consecutive phases of plugging and petaling, each of which comprises several separ ate mechanisms. Terminal velocities, trajectory angles, crater lengths , impact angles and penetration times for the three target materials w ere obtained. Effects on these quantities of variations in material st rength and thickness, and striker and target speed were determined. Th e nature of the failure phenomenon was found to be dependent on the re lationship between the rate of petal propagation and the rate of chang e of the contact area between striker and target. Copyright (C) 1996 E lsevier Science Ltd.