Experimental Consideration of Projectile Density and Hardness Effect on Its Penetration Ability in Alumina Target

Abstract

The development of body armour technology must be balanced with the development of ammunition technology. One of the technologies that can be undertaken to improve the performance of ammunition is to use material which is high density and high hardness in the core of the projectile, such as tungsten carbide-cobalt material (WC-8Co). This research will analyse regarding the effects of material substitution from the Pindad's standard steel core projectile to WC-8Co core projectile on the performance of 5.56 × 45 calibre ammunition on ceramic material target, alumina (Al2O3). This study used experimental method by performing ballistic tests. The results showed that for Al2O3 material target, projectile of WC-8Co core produced (a) 1.2 times a depth of penetration greater than Pindad's standard steel core projectile, (b) 2.1 times diameter of the crater bigger than Pindad's standard steel core projectile, and (c) 1.1 times damage deeper than Pindad's standard steel core projectile. These results showed that for Al2O3 material target, the performance of projectile penetration using WC-8Co core was better than the performance of projectile penetration using the Pindad's standard steel core.

Ballistic Testing and Simulation of Co-continuous Ceramic Composite for Body Armour

“…Fixed supports were modelled on all the faces of the cube except on one face. Since the DoP is directly proportional to the impact kinetic energy [16], the impact force of the medium velocity projectile was modelled on this face, in accordance with Equation (1).…”

A Review of Penetration Tungsten Based Projectile on Depth of Penetration at Armor of Ceramic Based

“…Moreover, the main target was alumina with a density of 3940 kg/m 3 and hardness of 14.7 mm. This thick main target of 10 mm was supported by a backing target of plasticine with a thickness of about 150 mm (Basyir, Bura, & Lesmana, 2019b). The detailed information about the impact velocity and DoP of this review can be seen in Figure 3 and Table 3.…”

“…The hardness of 4340 steel was bigger than aluminum alloy so that the 4340 steel could minimize penetration of projectile better than the aluminum alloy. Since the hardness parameter reduced penetration performance of projectile (Basyir et al, 2019b). Although the main target in the first experiment was titanium diboride with the highest density and hardness, these properties could not minimize penetration of the projectile.…”