Armoured vehicles in current military service are requiring ever more protection to
enable them to carry out their mission in a safe, effective manner. This requirement is
driving vehicle weight up to such an extent that the logistics of vehicle transport is
becoming increasingly difficult. Composite materials are an important material group
whose high specific properties can enable structures to be manufactured for a far lower
weight than might otherwise be possible. Composite materials in an armoured vehicle
will require structural performance as well as ballistic performance.
The mechanical and ballistic performance of tl-kk armour and structural composites has
been investigated against dcformable and armour-piercing ammunitions, over a range of
impact velocities. Testing has indicated that heavy/coarse reinforcement weaves perform
well against deformable ammunition and light/fine weaves well against armour piercing
ammunition. The effect of individual mechanical properties on ballistic performance has
been investigated as has the damage morphology of impacted materials. High tensile
strength combined with low fracture toughness has been identified as an important
requirement.
Failure mechanisms have been identified from sections of ballistic impacts and through
the use of mechanical test data the energy absorbed by each mechanism has been
calculated. An energy audit has been carried out of all materials tested and a modelling
procedure developed based on mechanical characteristics, damage morphology and
failure mechanisms. This model has been tested against literature results and found to
give very satisfactory performance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:CRANFIELD1/oai:dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk:1826/4016 |
| Date | 25 November 2007 |
| Creators | Bourke, P |
| Contributors | Horsfall, Prof I |
| Source Sets | CRANFIELD1 |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or dissertation, Doctoral, PhD |
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