The Science of Armour Materials

723 Pages·2017·78.95 MB·English

by  Ian Crouch

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Woodhead Publishing in Materials
The Science of Armour
Materials
Edited by
Ian G. Crouch
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List of contributors
L. Arnold RMIT University, Brunswick, Victoria, Australia
H. Billon Defence Science and Technology Group, Fishmermans Bend, Victoria,
Australia
S.J. Cimpoeru Defence Science and Technology Group, Fishermans Bend,
Victoria, Australia
I.G. Crouch RMIT University, Brunswick, Victoria, Australia; Armour Solutions
Pty Ltd, Trentham, Victoria,Australia
D.P.Edwards DefenceScienceandTechnologyGroup,FishermansBend,Victoria,
Australia
L. Edwards ANSTO,LucasHeights, NSW, Australia
B. Eu Ballistic and Mechanical Testing, Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
G.V.Franks The University of Melbourne, Victoria,Australia
M.A. Kariem Bandung Instituteof Technology, Bandung,West Java, Indonesia
H. Li University ofWollongong, NSW, Australia
M. Naebe Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria, Australia
A. Pierlot CSIRO, Waurn Ponds, Victoria,Australia
D. Ruan Swinburne University ofTechnology,Hawthorn, Victoria,Australia
S. Ryan Defence Science and Technology Group, Fishermans Bend, Victoria,
Australia
M. Saleh ANSTO,Lucas Heights, NSW, Australia
J. Sandlin DMTC, Hawthorn,Victoria, Australia
D. Shanmugam Thales, Bendigo, Victoria,Australia
C. Tallon Virginia Tech, Blacksburg,VA,UnitedStates
S. Thomas Defendtex,Dandenong South, Victoria, Australia
Introduction
In2009,theDefenceMaterialsTechnologyCentre(DMTC)wasinitsestablishment
phase.FoundedbyaleadinggroupofAustralianresearchandindustrysectorplayers,
DMTCrepresentedeandrepresentseasignificantinitiativeonthepartofthesector
to consolidate a broad range of high-technology activities and focus outcomes on
improving Australian defence capability. The organization had an established pro-
grammeaimedattheprotectionofland vehiclesandthebeginningsofaprogramme
aimedat protection ofdismounted personnel.
My diary isalwaysclose tofull.
Inagoodweek,theremightbetwoorthreeblocksofacoupleofhoursunfilledby
meetingsandappointmentsandIhaveanexcellentEAwhodiligentlyworkstokeep
thingsmoving.Itcanbeachallengetofiteverythinginandappointmentswithsome
peopleoftenneedingtogivewaysomeorallofthetimetopressingschedules.Notso
forIanCrouch,whoIhadknownforseveralyearsandwhowasalwaysconsistentin
hispassionandbeliefthatwecoulddothingsbetter.His‘wecandothis’attitudehas
alwaysbeensoimportantandIverymuchlookedforwardtoourmeetings.Wemetas
planned. I’mso glad we did.
Asanengineermyselfandtheleaderofthecentre,Iwasofcourseawareofsomeof
thenascentandestablished capabilitiesintheAustralianarmourandprotectivetech-
nologiesarena,butIanwhohadbeenaleadinglightforsomeyears,wasabletooutline
thetrueextentoftheenvironmentwithgreatauthorityandhisusualwit,passionand
charm. The story of Australian armour and protective technologies both before and
sincetheadventoftheDMTCencompassesanarrativeofpersistenceandexcellence.
Characterisedbylargelyself-contained,shortsupply-chainswithlowproductionruns
and a liberal helping of uncertainty, life can be challenging for industrialists in this
sector. Ian and many of his colleagues from industry and research were significant
drivers of the effort to stand up a programme of technologies that brought together
a suite of armour and protective technologies in the mounted/vehicles and dis-
mounted/personnel domains, and deliver these to a very demanding customer with,
appropriately,little tolerance for second best.
Theseeffortsandsuccessesarisingtherefromhavebeenlaudedinmanyfora,and
most importantly have been acknowledged as saving lives by the Australian Army.
Surely there can be no more worthy pursuit for innovators.
Success is, of course, a very confused being with regard to claims against its true
parentage,butasonewhohasbeenclosetotheactionforthepastdecade,Icanattest
tothecentralroleIanplayedindevelopingandchampioningthetechnologiesandca-
pabilitiespresentedherewith.Manyothershavealsomadesignificantcontributionsto
xii Introduction
this body of knowledge, experience and expertise, that have given Australian and
allied personnel the confidence in their protective equipment ensembles. Some of
the authors in this publication have the passing privilege of youth.others (who I’m
confident will notmind me pointing out) bring experience tothe table.
IanCrouchmanagesbothqualities,andhasspearheadedthedevelopmentofthis
significantbodyofworkin,byandforthebenefitofAustraliaanditsallies.Thishas
beeneinthespiritembodiedbytheDMTCanditsmanypartnerorganisationsea
truecollaborativeeffortandaproudlyall-Australianinitiativewhichwepresentfor
your consideration.
Dr Mark Hodge
Chief Executive Officer
Defence Materials Technology Centre
Australia
Foreword
Forthefirsthalfof2009Iwasresponsiblefortheeffectiveemploymentandprotection
of all Australians in Afghanistan. The men and women under my command had a
mixture of body armour, none of which in my opinion was entirely suitable for the
work they were doing and most of it was most certainly inferior to that which many
ofourcoalitionpartners’soldierswerewearing. InmyviewtheAustralian’modular
combatbodyarmoursystem’didlittlemorethanturnasoldierintoa‘pillbox’.There
appearedtobealackofappreciationinitsdevelopmentthatasignificantcomponentof
asoldier’sprotectionwastheabilitytofireaweaponandtomovequickly,inadditionto
physicalprotection.Ifasoldierdidnothingmorethanwearalltheissuedbodyarmour,
heorshewascarryingalmostasmuchweightasanyAustraliansoldierinhistorybefore
even considering the weight of ammunition, water and rations. It was at this point
Ibecamefascinatedwiththetechnologiesandfunctionalityofbodyarmour.
My chance came to do something about it when I returned from Afghanistan.
IreturnedtoArmyHeadquartersonpromotionastheinauguralHeadofModernisation
andStrategicPlanning.Then,tomakemymissionoffixingthesituationmoreurgent,
intheSenateEstimateshearingafterIreturnedin2009,theChiefofArmywasasked
to explain the very significant number of complaints by soldiers and their concerned
parentsaboutthelackofutilityofthepersonalloadcarryingandprotectiveequipment
issuedtosoldiers,especiallytheweightandphysicalrestrictionimposedbythebody
armour.
Inlate2009,ImetDrIanCrouchandfoundinhimsomeoneabletoanswerallof
myquestionsabouttheweightversusprotectiondilemma;andsomeonewhowouldbe
a great help to me to do something about it. Together, after a meeting at Australian
DefenceApparel(ADA)inBendigo,westartedthejourneytogetoursoldiersbetter
protectiononcombatoperations.HehadthetechnicalexpertiseandIhadtheauthor-
ity.Beforewehadleftthefactoryfloorwehadestablishedwhatwasfeasible,accept-
able and suitable, how long that wouldtake and what themajorissueswere.
Almost twoyears to the day after that meeting with Ian, I was very proud to visit
the battle group training in Townsville, which was readying for deployment to
Afghanistan. The commanding officer was ecstatic with the result and we could not
find one soldier who was not likewise impressed with his new equipment issue.
WhatbecameknownasT-BAS(TieredBodyArmourSystem)incorporatedthenew
bodyarmourandaninnovativecombatload-carrying equipmentsolution.All ofthis
waspursuedandcoordinatedby’Diggerworks’,anorganisationraisedasacollabora-
tion in Defence to lead and stay at the front of developments in soldier personal
xiv Foreword
equipment.TheDefencepersonnelwhobecametheengineroomofDiggerworkswere
thearchitectsofthefirstTBASdesignanddriversofitsuser-centrediterationthatmade
TBASthetrulyfit-for-purposesystemofwhichwearealljustifiablyproud.
Everysoldier,theirfamiliesandtheircommandersoncombatoperationsoweadebt
of gratitude to Ian and his team for their work in fixing this problem in quick order.
There is no doubt we saved lives as a consequence. We achieved this through Ian’s
intimate knowledge of armour materials combined with a shared understanding of
an infantryman’s approach to the optimal balance between weight, fit and protection
that enabled effective fire and movement. The current design is a significant step
changefrom MCBAS.
Thisbookisatestamenttotheknowledge andenthusiasm ofDrIanCrouch. Itis
people like him and those who will gain from this book that can have a significant
impact on the lives of our service personnel. I am eternally grateful for what Dr Ian
Crouch has done for us already and what he continues to do in publications such
as this.
Lt Gen John Caligari,AO,DSC (Rtd),
Chief ofCapability DevelopmentGroupto August 2015
MinistersWarrenSnowdenandJasonClare,togetherwithLtGenJohnCaligari,attheofficial
openingoftheDMTC’sBoronCarbidePilotPlantinMarch2011.
Preface
IamproudtopresentthisnewworkonarmourmaterialsforIbelievethatitisthefirst
trulymaterials-focusedbookonarmourinmorethan40years.Itiscomprehensivein
itstreatmentoftheinternationalliteratureanditscoverageofrecenttechnologicalad-
vances. Toitscredit, itisalsocoherentinitstreatmentoftheinterdependenceofthe
variousmaterialgroups,withnumerouscross-referencesbetweenindividualchapters.
Theideaofcompilingsuchabookcametomeduring2010,asIwasfinishingupmy
career with Australian Defence Apparel, supplier of body armour systems to the
AustralianDefenceForce.IrealisedthenwhatacharmedworkinglifeIhadbeenfortu-
natetoexperience;onethatstartedintheUK,withinthedefenceresearchorganisations,
followed by 20years in Australia with a number of defence industrial companies.
Throughoutthistime,since1980,Ihavebeenintimatelyinvolvedintheinternational
armourcommunity,eitherasaresearcher,armourtechnologist,orassomeonepushing
tocommercialisenewarmourmaterialsandsystems.Thisbookcontainsmanyextracts,
incidents and armour materials downloaded from those various experiences. It also
reflects the collaborative nature of my most recent activities, working as a Project
LeaderwithintheDefence MaterialsTechnologyCentre (DMTC)inAustralia,since
all of my fellow coauthors are participating researchers within that centre. The
Australianarmourcommunityhascertainlyexpandedduringthepast10yearsorso.
ThebookitselfhasbeenwrittenprimarilyfortheearlypractitionersinceIhadno
suchtextbookbackinthe1980swhenIwaslearningmycraft.Itisstructuredalongthe
linesofaconventionalmaterialsengineeringtextbook,coveringallmajorfamiliesof
materials.Eachchaptercoversonegroupofarmourmaterials,treatingeachgroupasa
specialised subset of the broader set of engineering materials, from the well-
establishedarmoursteels,throughthefamiliesoflightalloys,tothedesignerarmours
involvingceramics,textilesandcomposites.Thematerialsciencebehindeachfamily
of armour material is treated in great detail: energy-absorbing mechanisms are well
covered,asarethevariouspenetrationmodes,sinceunderstandingthesefailuremech-
anismsisattheheartofdevelopingnewarmourmaterials.Asmentionedatthebegin-
ning of Chapter 1, the science of armour materials is not a codified branch of
engineering e it is a science in its own right e a science based around the high-
strain-rate properties of materials and localised deformation behaviour. Each of the
chapters contains summary tables of key properties providing an excellent source of
reference material and ballistic data. One of the major themes running through the
bookisthedesignofrealarmoursystems:theprinciplesandguidelinesusedtodesign
xvi Preface
notonlysimple,elementalsystemsbutalsomultilayeredstructures,liketheceramic-
faced composite armours. Many examples ofreal-life case studies areprovided.
Chapter1commencesbyconsideringtheoperationalenvironmentaswellasdetailing
thethreat,sincethisisalwaysthefirstthingtoconsiderwhendesigningordevelopingan
armoursystem.Foranumberofreasons,thethreatspectrumhasbeenlimitedtosmall
arms ammunition, high-velocity fragments, knife and spike attacks, and various blast
loadings. The introductory chapter also includes essential background reading for the
nonmaterial scientist and some revision notes for the more experienced researcher.
Two chapters follow it on traditional armour materials, namely the family of armour
steelsinChapter2,andthegroupoflightalloys,coveredinChapter3.Bothchapterspro-
videsoundmetallurgicalbackgroundinformationandkeypointsaboutthesetraditional
armours,theirengineeringpropertiesandcomparablejoiningtechniques.Mostofthem
are structuralin nature and,whilstthe steels are close to the end of their research and
development phase,after morethan 100years,theyare still the materialofchoicefor
most armoured military platforms. They may also still have a role to play in future
bodyarmoursystems.Titaniumalloyscertainlyhavearoletoplayinprotectionagainst
smallarmsammunition,asdothehigh-strengthgradesofaluminiumalloys.
Chapter 4 is very much a transition chapter between the traditional, monolithic,
metallicarmours inChapter 2 (Steels)and Chapter 3 (LightAlloys) and the ‘designer
armours’coveredinlaterchapters.Itprovidesaninsightfulreviewoflaminatedmate-
rials and layered structures, recognising that the most efficient armour materials have
a lamellar, laminated orlayered structure.Key propertiesofa laminateare elucidated:
theircrack-arrestingbehaviour,aswellastheessentialroleofinterfacesandinterlayer
materials. The chapter makes essential reading beforeconsidering the laminated fibre-
reinforcedstructuresinChapter5(PolymersandFibre-ReinforcedPlastics),thelayered,
textilestructuresofChapter6(Fires,TextilesandProtectiveApparel)andtheceramic-
compositearmourscoveredinChapter7(GlassesandCeramics).
Chapter5introducestherangeofbothreinforcedandunreinforcedpolymersandin-
cludesacomprehensivereviewofthemanymethodsofmanufacturingarmour-quality,
compositecomponents.Thisisanimportanttopicsinceeachapproachresultsinanarmour
product with very different properties. The chapter also introduces the new wave of
splicelesstechnologiesthatenablefullyformedcombathelmetshellstobemanufactured
in one step from a flat, lay-up of composite materials, especially those based upon
advancedmaterialsliketheultrahigh-molecular-weightpolyethylene(UHMWPE)fibres.
InChapter6,thethemeoflayeredarmourmaterialsiscontinuedbyintroducingthe
reader tothesciencebehindsoftarmourveststhatcanstopnotonlyhandgunbullets
butalsoknifeandspikethreats.Eachconstituentofthevestisconsideredinturn,from
theconstitutionofthefibres,andthestructuresofbothwovenandnonwovenfabrics,
tothestitchedlayersofdryfabricsandfinallytotheshapingofthevestitself.Thevari-
ableswithineachelementaredetailed,aswellasthevariousenergy-absorbingmech-
anisms, and, as stated above, many tables of relevant properties and characteristics
accompanythese.Stoppingaknifefrompenetratingthehumanbodyisaschallenging
as defeatinga handgun bullet.
Glassesandceramicsare,inmyopinion,themostimportantfamilyofarmourma-
terials, and Chapter 7 covers this highly developed group in some detail. The trans-
parent ceramics, evolving steadily to replace the poorer-performing float glasses are