THE EFFECT OF USING ALUMINIUM FOAM IN STEEL SANDWICH TARGETS AGAINST BLUNT PROJECTILES

In this paper, the effect of using Aluminium Foam (Alporas) on the ballistic resistance of multi layered target comprising two steel layers and Al foam in between against rigid projectile of blunt nose impact at sub-ordnance velocities (320 : 400 m/s) is evaluated using finite element analysis using ABAQUS/explicit. Rigid projectile of blunt nose is considered, it is manufactured from Arne tool steel with a nominal mass and diameter of 197 g and 20 mm. The evaluation has been done by comparing the ballistic resistance of a single layer of steel plate to eleven different composite plate structure comprising two layers of steel plates and Aluminium foam layer sandwiched between them. The study reveals that using Aluminium foam absorbs more kinetic energy from the projectile during penetration and, hence, reduces the residual velocity of the projectile. Also it is found that the total mass of each structure is less than the total mass of single layer target.