At present, aluminum alloys are being increasingly used in lightweight protective structures; however, research on the damage mechanisms of such materials remains quite limited. This paper investigates the effects of the length-to-diameter (L/D) ratio of blunt projectiles, target plate thickness, penetration incident angle, and angle of attack on the penetration capability of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy plates, as well as the deformation characteristics and failure modes of the target plates. The findings indicate that the penetration performance of the projectile against the target plate is inversely proportional to the incident angle, a smaller L/D ratio, and the increasing angle of attack. Moreover, at smaller incident angles, the penetration performance of the projectile is paradoxically lower than under larger incident angle conditions. In addition, this paper proposes a predictive model for the residual velocity and the critical penetration velocity of projectiles after penetrating the target. This study provides a theoretical basis and technical guidance for the future design and optimization of anti-armor technologies.
Hao et al. (Mon,) studied this question.