Measuring the Blast and Ballistic Performance of Armor

Abstract

Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98)Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39.18Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SPONSOR / MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S) 9. SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) SPONSOR / MONITOR'S REPORT NUMBER(S) ONRThis report relates to the discovery and development by the authors of armor designs using certain elastomers applied as coatings to the front side of rigid substrates, to increase the ballistic and blast performance of armor. This has led to much activity intended to optimize and exploit the technology for various applications, both military and civilian. Since armor improvements of even a few percent are substantial, quantifying the performance of armor materials requires high accuracy. Herein we describe test methods and analyses useful in achieving measurements of sufficient quality. Since the optimal design of any armor, conventional or advanced, depends on the threat (i.e., the nature of the projectile and its mass and energy; single-versus multiple-hit defeat), we describe how performance attributes can be quantified and valid comparisons made between different armor designs.

Elastomer-metal laminate armor

“…Their Brinell hardness is 285 ± 1; that is, the fsp are softer than either steel substrate, and become highly compressed and highly distorted by passage through the target. The details of the ballistic testing can be found elsewhere [44]. Briefly, projectile velocities, determined using tandem chronographs, were varied over the range 300-1500 m/s, according to the quantity of gun powder (2 to 15 g of IMR 4895).…”

Synthesis of aniline‐terminated polyethers and resulting polyurethane/polyurea elastomers

“…Recent studies have detailed the use of aniline‐terminated polyols for making blast resistant coatings . These coatings can perform effectively by a mechanism whereby the normally rubbery polymer reacts as a glassy material due to incompatibility of the ballistic impact rate and the frequency response of the subject polyurea coatings . Many of these studies have treated the nonisocyanate component of these coatings as a black box—a reactive ingredient with no known structure–property relationship to the impact response being measured.…”