Investigation of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) Textile Backing Systems Integrated with Ceramic Sphere Body Armor Systems
Abstract
Body armor for military applications uses a composite system incorporating a monolithic ceramic front face plate backed by an Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) textile system that offers a high mass efficiency. Issues with the current system include mobility, fracture and multi-hit performance degradation. It has been demonstrated that ceramic spheres have a higher mass efficiency as compared to monolithic ceramic tiles when applied against 3/8" chromium steel projectiles and 0.30 caliber M2AP projectiles. Within this study, the penetration resistance performance of two selected projectiles (AK-47 and M80) were studied against multiple front face ceramic armor systems. The back face deflection was measured using high-speed video to determine both in-plane and out-of-plane propagation. This data was correlated with load cell force measurements to provide a means to measure penetration resistance performance through determination of the work performed by the 80-layer UHMWPE backing with the selected front face ceramic systems. This work will enable a higher level of performance fidelity and enable optimized front face ceramic armor systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1164967
Entities
People
- Brent W. Morrison
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School