The Defeat of Shaped Charge Jets by Explosively Driven Ceramic and Glass Plates

In this work, we investigate the penetration of shaped charge jets into explosively driven brittle materials. Using a simple tri‐plate explosive reactive armor (ERA) design, ∅89 mm shaped charge warheads have been used to assess the performance of armor configurations with flyer plates constructed from alumina, silicon carbide, borosilicate glass, and steel. In particular, it was noted that the performance of silicon carbide and alumina flyer plates were comparable to steel. Furthermore, there is evidence that increasing the mass of the explosive material behind a ceramic layer improves the performance of the armor thereby providing room for optimization of a brittle material ERA system. Finally, numerical simulations are also presented using the JH‐1 material model that elucidate the damage mechanisms that occur when a ceramic ERA flyer plate is explosively loaded.