Models for the behavior of boron carbide in extreme dynamic environments

Abstract

We describe models for the behavior of hot‐pressed boron carbide that is subjected to extreme dynamic environments such as ballistic impact. We first identify the deformation and failure mechanisms that are observed in boron carbide under such conditions, and then review physics‐based models for each of these mechanisms and the integration of these models into a single physics‐based continuum model for the material. Atomistic modeling relates the composition and stoichiometry to the amorphization threshold, while mesoscale modeling relates the processing‐induced defect distribution to the fracture threshold. The models demonstrate that the relative importance of amorphization and fracture are strongly dependent on the geometry and impact conditions, with the volume fraction of amorphized material being unlikely to be significant until very high velocities (~3 km/s) are reached for geometries such as ball impact on plates. These connections to the physics thus provide guidelines for the design of improved boron carbide materials for impact applications.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Sep 06, 2021
Source ID
10.1111/jace.18071

Entities

People

  • Amartya Bhattacharjee
  • Andrew L. Tonge
  • Joel Clemmer
  • Kaliat Ramesh
  • Lori Graham‐Brady
  • Mark O. Robbins
  • Nilanjan Mitra
  • Qi An
  • Qinglei Zeng
  • Ryan C. Hurley
  • Weixin Li
  • William Andrew Goddard III
  • Yidi Shen

Organizations

  • California Institute of Technology
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • Sandia National Laboratories
  • United States Army
  • United States Army Research Laboratory
  • University of Nevada, Reno

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Powder metallurgy of Titanium alloys.