Processing, ballistic performance evaluation, demonstration of repair strategies, and the renewal of ballistic performance after repair of composite integral armor (CIA) panels are discussed. A single-step vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process has been used to manufacture baseline CIA panels with nominal areal-density of 90.33 kg/m3 (18.5 lbs/ft2). Circular Kapton films are implanted into the backing plate of CIA panels during fabrication to simulate delaminations. The CIA panels are impacted with machine gun projectiles, and the projectile residual velocity is measured. Results show little effect of pre-implanted delaminations on the ballistic performance demonstrating the robustness of the armor design and implying that the stress waves initiate and propagate delamination in the baseline prior to projectile arrival. The damaged armor panels are systematically dissected and backing plates are ultrasonically scanned to evaluate damage and identify repair strategies. The damaged backing plates of the baseline CIA panels are repaired using the VARTM process to stabilize and bond the delaminations. The backing plates that contain pre-implanted delaminations are not repaired with resin infusion. The damaged tiles and cover layer of all panels are reconstructed using the same procedure. The repaired CIA panels with resin-infused backing plates show significant renewal of ballistic properties. On the other hand, the repaired CIA panels with the replacement only showed a significant loss in ballistic performance compared to the baseline.
Processing, ballistic testing and repair of composite integral armor
2000
13 Seiten, 14 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
Repair of composite integral armor
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