Proton Radiography of Reverse Ballistic Impacts

Abstract

Ceramics are important materials due to their high strength and hardness, particularly in armor systems such as personnel body armor where they are used extensively. Understanding the failure process for these types of systems is key to improving their performance. To better understand the process of failure in ceramic materials subjected to ballistic impacts, we planned and executed reverse ballistic experiments to study material failure during impact on a silicon carbide target. The primary diagnostic tool we used was proton radiography conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) using their 800 mega-electron-volt (MeV) linear accelerator. Proton radiography at this facility is capable of excellent spatial and temporal resolution with up to 31 frames of data captured with variable frame spacing and gate time. We report and discuss some of the results of these experiments.