Damage failure and ballistic performance of SiC ceramic-fiber reinforced resin-based composite armor with different thickness ratios

Ceramic-fiber composite target plates are commonly used armored structures in current lightweight protection engineering. While a substantial amount of research has been conducted by scholars worldwide on the ballistic performance of composite armor, there has been relatively little study on the fracture characteristics during the interaction process between hard core projectiles and ceramic-fiber composite target plates. The fragmentation patterns of the core and ceramic materials have a significant correlation with the protective performance of the overall composite armor.In this study, 12.7 mm armor-piercing incendiary rounds were fired to penetrate SiC ceramic-fiber composite target plates. Under similar areal density conditions of the composite target plates, three different thickness ratios of Kevlar/SiC-carbon fiber reinforced epoxy resin-based composites (T300) and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) composite target plates were designed. By observing the overall failure morphology of the recovered core and ceramic-fiber composite target plates, the primary damage modes of the core and fiber laminates were analyzed. Moreover, multi-stage sieving and weighing processes were performed on the recovered core and ceramic fragments to investigate the mass distribution of core and ceramics in accordance with power-law distribution under different thickness ratios.The experimental results indicate that the combination of 9 mm SiC+4 mm T300+10 mm UHMWPE exhibits optimal resistance to penetration among the three different thickness ratios tested. Replacing 1mm thick SiC ceramic with 1mm thick carbon fiber T300 not only reduces weight but also enhances the protective capability of the composite armor.The failure and fracture modes of the composite target plates include the formation of ceramic cones and radial cracks in ceramics under high-speed impact. The UHMWPE laminate experiences interlayer separation induced by tensile waves, permanent plastic deformation at the backside protrusion, and perforation failure primarily due to shear forces. The damage form of the carbon fiber T300 laminate mainly comprises brittle cross-shaped fractures caused by shear forces, accompanied by the detachment of impacted fragments. The head of the core predominantly exhibits crushing abrasion fractures, while larger core fragments experience combined shear and tensile stresses resulting in shear failure fractures.An ideal model for ceramic-fiber composite armor involves incorporating highly rigid elastic materials behind ceramics, while selecting backplates with high tensile strength and good impact toughness.