Bullet proof

A collaborative research project between the EPSRC and the Defense, Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is helping to increase understanding of ceramic materials for armor. The research team is determining the properties of a material before testing, and then inputting this data into the model. The approach has been used on a number of different ceramics with a range of characteristics, yielding comparative information on the microstructural and mechanical characteristics of ceramics deemed successful in terms of ballistic performance. The approach is also helping the research team to pinpoint the precise failure mechanisms and material properties that are directly relevant to the development of a verifiable, multi-scale ceramic material model. Some of the most important outcomes of the project are the development of a multi-scale ceramic material model that can be implemented via widely used, commercial finite-element software, as well as the use of micro-cantilever beam testing of armor ceramics to evaluate, refine and validate this model at higher strain rates.