Numerical Simulation on Effect of Impact Velocity and Target Thickness in Magnesium Alloy AZ31B

Abstract

Recent research works indicate that magnesium alloy can be used for constructing light weight armor because of its density, which is 35% lower than aluminium and 77% lower than steel and also it exhibits superior vibration damping and better failure mechanisms than the contemporary ballistic materials. In this study, numerical simulations were carried out in a monolithic magnesium AZ31B plate using AUTODYN software to understand the effect of Impact velocity and plate thickness on the deformation of target plates. The projectiles are normally impacted on target plates of varying thickness plates at different velocities. Lagrangian solver was used for meshing, in which the grid developed by the solver distorts with the material helps in eliminating the inaccuracies caused by the cell growth due to the shear force of the bullet impact. The simulation results are verified with the experimental data available in the literature.

Ballistic studies of lightweight materials – A Review

“…Moreover, the numerical study is carried on models depicting the experimental procedure necessary to obtain a result on deformations and perforations [8,17]. From numerical investigations, they found there is a close correlation with the experimental results [5].…”

“…As the Impact kinetic energy increases from 1569 J to 3888 J the residual kinetic energy decreases from 120 to 40 J. The numerical simulations using AUTODYN software were made on the target to correlate with the experimental results done by Tyrone et al [1] provides an out view of the ballistic penetration as it is shown in Figure 12 [5]. Fig.…”

“…The structure of the aluminium alloy sandwich panel with honeycomb cores is shown in Figure 2 [17]. Cores [17] The various projectile equipped in the ballistic operations are double nose projectile structure [9], conical, hemispherical and blunt projectile [3] are shown in Figure 3.Parabellum and NATO projectile (displayed in Figure 4) [21], 7.62 mm calibre -ogivalnose -steel jacketed with hard tungsten core armour piercing (AP) projectile [22], 5.56 mm FMJ NATO projectile [5], 5.56×45 mm SS109 projectile [15], flat projectile [16], the flat-ended steel projectile [4], 15CDV6 steel [18], 50 calibre projectile [23], C30 steel (shown in Figure 6) [24], M80 of 7.62×51 mm [19]. Reviewing among the articles, there are experimental setup made out of which some are tested using gas guns [25] and some with impact testing machines [12].…”

“…Thus aluminium alloy7075-T651 is found to be lightweight and reduction in size by 25% when compared to rolled homogeneous armour steel. Ezhil Vendhan et al [5] analysed AZ31B magnesium alloy with the projectile and found out that the ballistic effect is interdependent of velocity and target thickness which acts as the main factor for constructing armour. As the Impact kinetic energy increases from 1569 J to 3888 J the residual kinetic energy decreases from 120 to 40 J.…”

“…12. Numerical simulations of projectile on magnesium AZ31B alloy [5] M. F. Abdullah et al [2] implemented the usage of Carbon-Nano Tube (CNT) for improving impact resistance on AZ31B magnesium alloy together with lead (Pb) addition. The graph is represented on the comparison of normal alloy and alloy with CNT and Pb which is shown in Figure 13 [2].…”