Designing SiC ceramic composite armor structure to resist multiple impacts from armor-piercing incendiary bullets

This paper aims to construct a vehicle ceramic composite armor with high resistance to penetration and the capacity to withstand multiple impacts from armor-piercing incendiary (API) projectiles. Specifically, ballistic tests are conducted to study the effect of ceramic/backplate mass proportion and the 3D winding constrains of ceramic panel on the impact response of armor plate. The multi-scale damage morphologies of post-impact armor plate are characterized to discuss the synergistic protection mechanism between ceramic and backplate. In terms of balancing bulletproof performance with weight, the optimal mass ratio of ceramic/backplate to withstand multiple impacts from 7.62 mm and 12.7 mm API bullets are 71.89/28.11 and 72.76/27.24, respectively. Although the anti-penetration performance of the 3D winding constraint structure decreased by 8.84 %, the damage area of its ceramic panel was reduced by 88.08 %. This constraint structure improves the capacity to resist multiple impacts by reducing the response area, and ensures the energy absorption efficiency by increasing the degree of ceramic pulverization. During impact, the API projectile undergoes deceleration with varying deceleration rate, and the response zone of the ceramic and backplate is first subjected to acceleration response process followed by deceleration. The findings provide valuable insights into the structural design of lightweight ceramic composite armor.