The Damaged Analysis from Ballistic Threats on Transparent Armor

Abstract

Transparent armor is a group of transparent materials whose main role is providing the protection against high velocity projectile or fragment. It is known that the configuration of transparent armor have a big influence on the ballistic protection. In this study, various thicknesses of soda-lime glass sheets were laminated using PVB films as interlayers. The obtained transparent armor was ballistic tested by 7.62 mm FMJ ammunition at various projectile velocities. In all specimens, the ballistic penetration stopped at the first layer. The intercept counting method was used to determined the damage level appeared on the test specimen. It was found that the number of crack on the 12-mm-thick strike plate was higher than those in 19-mm-thick strike plate. However, the calculated new surface areas of these two specimens were in the same range which implied the similar amount of kinetic energy absorbed in the strike plates having different thickness. The cracks bifurcated were observed when the impact velocity was higher than 838 m/s.