Ballistic performance and mechanism of B4C/Al laminated targets with different configurations

The present paper explores the ballistic performance of B4C/6061Al laminated targets with the typical configurations of double-layer, sandwich and gradient impacted by 7.62 mm API projectile. Damage patterns were characterized and ballistic mechanism of B4C/6061Al laminated targets was revealed by damage analysis combined with finite element simulation. It is found no interlayer delamination occurs in all B4C/6061Al laminated targets even after being penetrated, which leads to a dependable comparison of different configuration without the interruption of delamination. The protection effect of the laminated configurations is better than that of the homogeneous target, except for the hard-soft-hard sandwich configuration. Among them, the gradient configuration is considered as the optimal configuration due to the supreme ballistic resistance. An important design principle of B4C/6061Al laminated composites is proposed to improve the ballistic performance.