Performance metrics for composite integral armor

Future combat systems necessarily focus on lightweight, highly mobile and t ransportable armored vehicles. Lightweight composite integral armor systems are being developed to meet these needs. The goal of this paper is to cent rally document the myriad design requirements for composite integral armors that serve multifunctional roles including ballistic, structural, shock, e lectromagnetic, and fire protection. Structural and ballistic performance r equirements as well as manufacturing and life-cycle performance issues of i ntegral armor are presented. Specific areas addressed include high-strain-r ate testing and modeling, ballistic testing and modeling, low-cycle fatigue , damage tolerance, repair, reduced-step processing, through-thickness rein forcement, energy dissipation and rate-dependent failure mechanisms, and no n-linear mechanics.