An Introduction to the Properties of Silica Glass in Ballistic Applications

ABSTRACT The purpose of this review is to introduce the interested reader to the literature on the use of silica glasses in ballistic applications. These applications include optically transparent windows (where their amorphous nature, appropriate band gap, and cheapness make them ideal window materials) as well as layers in opaque armours designed to be resistant to shaped charges. In the latter application, their increase in volume (bulking) on fracture disrupts the shaped charge jet. Other topics covered in this review include low‐velocity damage by windborne debris, liquid and solid impact, dynamic methods of testing (Hopkinson pressure bar, Taylor impact, and plate impact shock loading), and constitutive models. The use of glass as a shaped charge is also discussed.