Dynamic fracture of ceramic plates due to impact loading. Numerical investigation

The paper presents comparative numerical analysis of two ceramic materials subjected to impact loading. ZrO2(Y2O3) and Al2O3 ceramics are studied. The main objective of the work is to study influence of various material parameters on ballistic performance of ceramic materials and on characteristics of the dynamic fragmentation process. The applied numerical scheme is based on finite element method and incubation time fracture criterion. Results on fracture surface area, residual impactor velocity, fragment size distribution are reported for the two materials and various impactor velocities.