New research from North Carolina State University and the U.S. Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate shows that stainless steel composite metal foam (CMF) can block blast pressure and fragmentation at 5,000 feet per second from high explosive incendiary (HEI) rounds that detonate only 18 inches away
“In short, we found that steel-CMF offers much more protection than all other existing armor materials while lowering the weight remarkably,” says Afsaneh Rabiei, senior author of a paper on the work and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State. “We can provide as much protection as existing steel armor at a fraction of the weight – or provide much more protection at the same weight.
“Many military vehicles use armor made of rolled homogeneous steel, which weighs three times as much as our steel-CMF,” Rabiei says. “Based on tests like these, we believe we can replace that rolled steel with steel-CMF without sacrificing safety, better blocking not only the fragments but also the blast waves that are responsible for trauma such as major brain injuries. That would reduce vehicle weight significantly, improving fuel mileage and vehicle performance.”
For this study, researchers fired a 23×152 millimeter (mm) HEI round – often used in anti-aircraft weapons – into an aluminum strikeplate that was 2.3 mm thick. 10-inch by 10-inch steel-CMF plates – either 9.5 mm or 16.75 mm thick – were placed 18 inches from the aluminum strikeplate. The researchers assessed that the steel-CMF held up against the wave of blast pressure and against the copper and steel fragments created by the exploding round, as well as aluminum from the strikeplate.
Read more: Lightweight metal foam blocks blastwave, debris from high-explosive rounds
thumbnail courtesy of phys.org
