Research on anti-penetration performance of composite armor of steel/composite materials

The anti-penetration performance of the composite armor structures, which are composed of steel, Kevlar composite, and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) composite, were investigated numerically. The effects of composite armor configurations, the thickness of back plates, the shapes and incident angles of projectile on the anti-penetration performance were analyzed. The results indicate that the configuration with steel, Kevlar and UHMWPE on the first, second and third layers of the composite armor have the better anti-penetration performance. As the thickness of the composites back plate increases, the specific energy absorption of the composite armor decreases while the anti-penetration performance of the composite armor increases. In addition, it can be also found that the ball-headed projectile has stronger penetration ability than the flat-headed projectile of the same weight, and the penetration ability of projectile decreases with the increase in the impact angle of projectile.