High Velocity Impact Studies of Ceramic/UHMWPE Composite Ballistic Plate Configurations

Recently, ceramics and metal-armed structures have been replaced by ceramics combined with ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) composite laminated structures for NIJ level III and level IV body armor applications. This shift is due to the superior specific energy absorption capabilities of the ceramics/UHMWPE composites compared to traditional ceramics and metal armor; however, it comes at a higher cost. Manufacturing body armor that offers higher specific energy absorption at a lower cost is challenging. As the thickness of UHMWPE increases, both the specific energy absorption and the overall cost of the body armor increase. Additionally, there is limited experimental data to evaluate the thickness of ceramics and UHMWPE to explore the performance of NIJ level III body armor, indicating that further research is needed. In this study, six different types of ballistic plate configurations were manufactured. Following that, high velocity impact tests were conducted to investigate the effects of front and back layer thicknesses of UHMWPE (Type 1 to Type 3 plates), the effects of foam material (Type 4 plate), and the effects of different thicknesses of boron carbide (B 4 C) ceramic strike face (Type 5 and Type 6 plates) on the back face signature (BFS) of the ballistic plate. It was found that the BFS of Type 5 and Type 6 ballistic plate configurations is lower by 12% and 8.5%, respectively, compared with that of the Type 4 UHMWPE/polyvinyl chloride low-density foam ballistic plate. However, the Type 5 option is cost-effective and easy to manufacture, making it the preferred choice over the Type 6 variant.