Ballistic performance of polyurea-coated thin aluminium plates: numerical study

Polyurea elastomer exhibits desirable characteristics for impact mitigation, with varying stoichiometric-dependent properties that can be tailored for specific applications and applied to reinforce existing and new structural components. This numerical study aims to investigate the ballistic performance of polyurea-aluminium laminate targets, employing a user-defined material model for polyurea elastomer developed in a finite-element (FE) framework. The model consists of a rigid spherical projectile impacting the considered target plate. A linear increase in the ballistic performance with a growing thickness of polymer coating was observed and is consistent with previously conducted experimental work. The ballistic limit is increased by some 5% per millimetre of polymer coating thickness, when compared to the monolithic metallic plate. The presence of the polymer layer significantly affects the dynamic response mechanisms of the component during bending due to impact. The result is a more localised deformation compared to global bending of the target.