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The failure characterization of brittle materials like glass is of fundamental importance in describing the penetration resistance against projectiles. A critical question is whether this failure front remains “steady” after the driving stress is removed. A test series with short gold rods (D = 1 mm, L/D≈5–11) impacting borosilicate glass at ∼1 to 2 km/s was carried out to investigate this question. The reverse ballistic method was used for the experiments, and the impact and penetration process was observed simultaneously with five flash X-rays and a 16-frame high-speed optical camera. Very high measurement accuracy was established to ensure reliable results. Results show that the failure front induced by rod impact and penetration does arrest (ceases to propagate) after the rod is totally eroded inside the glass. The impact of a second rod after a short time delay reinitiates the failure front at about the same speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigations of glass by planar, and classical and symmetric Taylor impact experiments reveal that failure wave velocity vF depends on impact velocity, geometry, and type of glass. vF typically increases with impact velocity vP to between cS and cL or to [Square_Root]2cS (shear and longitudinal wave velocity). This paper reports initial results of an investigation of failure waves associated with gold rod impact on high-density (DEDF) glass and soda-lime glass. Data are obtained by visualizing simultaneously the failure propagation in the glass with a high-speed camera and the rod penetration velocity u with flash radiography. Results for DEDF glass are reported for vP between 1.2 and 2.0 km/s, those for soda-lime glass with vP ≈1.3 km/s. It is shown that vF > u, and that in the case of DEDF glass vF/u decreases from ; 1.38 to 1.13 with increasing vp. In addition, several Taylor tests were performed. For both DEDF and soda-lime glass the vF-values, found here as well as vF- data reported in the literature, reveal that—for equal pressures—the failure wave velocities determined from Taylor tests or planar-impact tests are distinctly greater than those observed during steady-state rod penetration. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]