Calculation and Analysis for the Anti-Penetration Performance of Explosively Welded Steel/Aluminum Plates Target by the Penetration of Spherical Projectile

A series of penetration-experiments were performed to investigate the anti-penetration performance of two and three layers explosively welded steel/aluminum and steel/aluminum/steel targets, the 14.5 mm slip chamber gun was used to launch the spherical steel projectile with diameter of 6 mm in the experiments. The failure modes of the layered targets were analyzed recur to the experimental results and on this basis a theoretical model was proposed to calculate the anti-penetration performance of the targets. The effects of different combinational style, thickness and intensity etc. on the anti-penetration performance of the targets were also analyzed qualitatively by the calculation model. The results show that: the damage mechanism of the steel front plate and aluminum middle plate is shearing and plugging, the steel rear plate is petalling damage and the aluminum rear plate is ductile prolonging; increasing intensity and thickness of the layered targets are beneficial for the anti-penetration performance; the anti-penetration performance of three-layer plates is better than that of the two-layer plates with the same total thickness; the results of theoretical calculation are well consistent with experimental results, indicating that the theoretical calculation model can predict the anti-penetration performance of layered targets effectively.