Search

This 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.

An efficient method was needed to perform ballistic testing using 0.30-cal. Fragment Simulating Projectiles at or near subsonic velocity in order to screen new resin systems for advanced composite/ceramic armor scaled-down test coupons. This technical note outlines the custom gun system and testing methods developed to enable this ballistic testing.