Tungsten long-rod penetration into confined cylinders of boron carbide at and above ordnance velocities

✍ Scribed by L Westerling; P Lundberg; B Lundberg

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 319 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0734-743X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0734-743x(00)00072-5

✦ Synopsis

The purpose was to investigate the in#uence of impact velocity and con"nement on the resistance of boron carbide targets to the penetration of tungsten long-rod projectiles. Experimental tests with impact velocities from 1400 to 2600 m/s were performed using a two-stage light-gas gun and a reverse impact technique. The targets consisted of boron carbide cylinders con"ned by steel tubes of various thicknesses. Simulations were carried out using the AUTODYN-2D code and Johnson}Holmquist's constitutive model with and without damage evolution. The experimental results show that the penetration process had di!erent character in three di!erent regions. At low-impact velocities, no signi"cant penetration occurred. At high-impact velocities, the relation between penetration velocity and impact velocity was approximately linear, and the penetration was steady and symmetrical. In between, there was a narrow transition region of impact velocities with intermittent and strongly variable penetration velocity. In the lower part of this region, extended lateral #ow of the projectile took place on the surface of the target. The in#uence of con"nement on penetration velocity was found to be small, especially at high-impact velocities. The simulated results for penetration velocity versus impact velocity agreed fairly well with the experimental results provided damage evolution was suspended below the transition region.