Impact Behavior of Ceramic-Metal Armour Composed of Al2O3-Nano SiC Composite

Alumina (Al2O3) is one of the most practical ceramics used in making ceramic-metal armours. To improve the properties of alumina, some other materials are added to it. In this paper, SiC material as Nano powder is added to alumina, and four armour samples of this new ceramic with different volume fractions (V.F.) including 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% of SiC particles are made. Their fracture toughness, bending strength and density are measured. Subsequently, it is found that the armour sample made of alumina with V.F. of 10% of SiC particles indicates more desirable properties as compared to other armour samples. Hence, the computer simulation and ballistic tests are carried out using alumina with V.F. of 10% of SiC particles and the results are compared with those of ballistic tests of pure alumina. During the simulation, it is observed that pure alumina with a thickness of 10 mm and aluminum substrate with a thickness of 4.8 mm is broken due to normal impact of a projectile with 800 m/s speed, but the new armour made of the present new ceramic is able to withstand the same conditions and no fracture is observed after the impact. The ballistic tests were also carried out using the present new ceramic-aluminum armour samples with ceramic thicknesses of 6, 8 and 10 mm, respectively to determine the smallest thickness at which the fracture occurs. It was found that the armour with a ceramic layer thickness of 6 mm did fracture, whereas the others were able to withstand the conditions of the ballistic test.