PNNL

Abstract

Because of its exceptional compressive resistance and crystal-clear appearance, lightweight glass has been traditionally used in transparent armor applications. However, due to its brittle nature, glass fails differently from ductile materials in the sense that glass fragmentation occurs instantly ahead of the projectile tip upon penetration. The effective residual strength of the armor glass then inevitably relies on the damaged glass strength within such comminuted zones with confinement from the surrounding intact materials. Physical understanding of damaged glass strength therefore becomes highly critical to the further development of armor designs. In the present study, a discrete element based modeling framework has been developed to understand and predict the evolution of compressive damages and residual strength of armor glasses. With the characteristic fragmentation and comminution failures explicitly resolved, their influences on the mechanical degradation of the loaded glass materials have been evaluated. The effects of essential loading conditions and material properties have also been investigated.