Partial penetration of annular grooved projectiles impacting ductile metal targets

Changing and optimizing the projectile nose shape is an important way to achieve specific ballistic performance. One special ballistic performance is the embedding effect, which can achieve a delayed high-explosive reaction on the target surface. This embedding effect includes a rebound phase that is significantly different from the traditional penetration process. To better study embedment behavior, this study proposed a novel nose shape called an annular grooved projectile and defined its interaction process with the ductile metal plate as partial penetration. Specifically, we conducted a series of low-velocity-ballistic tests in which these steel projectiles were used to strike 16-mm-thick target plates made with 2024-O aluminum alloy. We observed the dynamic evolution characteristics of this aluminum alloy near the impact craters and analyzed these characteristics by corresponding cross-sectional views and numerical simulations. The results indicated that the penetration resistance had a brief decrease that was influenced by its groove structure, but then it increased significantly—that is, the fluctuation of penetration resistance was affected by the irregular nose shape. Moreover, we visualized the distribution of the material in the groove and its inflow process through the rheology lines in microscopic tests and the highlighted mesh lines in simulations. The combination of these phenomena revealed the embedment mechanism of the annular grooved projectile and optimized the design of the groove shape to achieve a more firm embedment performance. The embedment was achieved primarily by the target material filled in the groove structure. Therefore, preventing the shear failure that occurred on the filling material was key to achieving this embedding effect.