Experimental and numerical investigation on the anti-penetration performance of metallic sandwich plates for marine applications

To predict the anti-penetration performance of protective structures, the ballistic performance of sandwich plates with steel face-sheet and aluminum foam core, the quasi-static compressive experiments of four different aluminum foam are performed and analyzed. The failure mechanism, mechanical parameters, and modified constitutive model are obtained. The virtual tests using numerical simulation were carried out in different penetration velocities based on quasi-static experimental constitutive parameters. Influence of projectile shape, face-sheet thickness, core thickness, and core densities on the residual velocity and plastic deformation of sandwich plates are discussed, while typical penetration failure modes and deformation mechanism are presented and analyzed. The failure modes of sandwich plates are different for hemisphere- and blunted-nosed projectile and the projectile shape influence is significant for ballistic performance when the penetration velocity approaches ballistic limit. The ballistic limit increases with increase of face-sheet or core thickness, core density and which shows an approximate linear relationship.