ABSTRACT
Normal penetration of armor-piercing projectiles into single and multi-layered steel targets has been investigated. An experimental program has been conducted to study the ballistic resistance of single as well as spaced and in-contact layered targets. Armor piercing projectiles, 7.62 mm in caliber were used. Projectile impact velocities ranged from 300 to 600 m/s, whereas the total thicknesses of the tested single, spaced and in-contact layered steel targets were 3 mm. The penetration process of different tested target configurations has been simulated using Autodayn-2D hydrocode. In addition, the data of projectiles and the different tested targets were fed into the analytical model developed by Liaghat et al. [1], who studied the penetration of conical projectiles into multi-layered metallic targets.
The experimental measurements of the present work were used to discuss the effect of impact velocity, target configuration and number of layers of different spaced and in-contact layered steel targets on their ballistic resistance. In addition, post-firing examination of the tested targets over the used impact velocity range showed that the single and each layer of spaced and in-contact laminated steel targets failed by petalling. Finally, the obtained experimental measurements were compared with the corresponding predicted results of Autodyn-2D hydrocode and the analytical model of Ref. [1], respectively; good agreement was generally obtained.