Analysis of bulletproof performance of structurally optimized ceramic composite armor through numerical simulation and live fire test | Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports volume 14, Article number: 31685 (2024) Cite this article

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This work aims to address key issues in the ballistic performance of ceramic-based composite armor, particularly at the joints of spliced bulletproof panels. The edge structure of C/C-SiC ceramic plates and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene is redesigned to superimpose the joint areas. These structurally optimized composite pads are examined by numerical simulation of impact dynamics to understand their anti-penetration performance whose accuracy is then validated by live fire tests. The results reveal that (1) the ceramic plates with improved edge design enhance the anti-penetration efficiency, (2) the established dynamic constitutive model of penetration resistance effectively predicts the ballistic performance of the armor pad, and (3) inability to penetrate high-speed real bullets through the armor suggests that the ballistic performance fully meets the protection requirements of the MIL-A-46103EIII Class 2 A standard. In this regard, structural regulation of the shape of the ceramic-based composite plates allows for the design of lightweight armor with improved bulletproof capability.

The protective power of armor refers to the ability of materials to defend against the destructive forces of various weapons. It is often expressed as the minimum size of the armor on the main front side that cannot be penetrated by specific weapons and ammunition. The anti-penetration performance of armor materials is presented as the ability of armor per unit thickness to protect against damaging forces1,2,3. This comprehensive characteristic, which represents the overall physical properties of armor materials, is often determined by the firing test4. Among many protective materials, ceramic-based plates have been extensively studied due to their lightweight and overall low production cost5,6,7,8,9. The protection efficiency of ceramic composite armor and backing plate thickness has been presented as follows: Ec = E0 + k1⋅δb, where Ec is the protection efficiency of the ceramic layer, E0 is the base protection efficiency of the ceramic layer, k1 is the growth coefficient of the ceramic layer, and δb is the backing plate thickness. Although the protective power of ceramic composite armor increases with the thickness of the ceramic plate, it does not always increase proportionally. Specifically, as the bullet accelerates rapidly, the degree of protection efficiency gradually declines with an increase in the thickness of the protective panel (e.g., the degree of increase in armor thickness ≠ the degree of protection efficiency at accelerated bullet velocities). Under the premise that the total thickness of the ceramic bulletproof plate is the same, the bulletproof efficiency of the multi-layer ceramic plate is much greater than that of the single-layer plate10. This is because the propagation speed of the stress wave generated is much higher than the speed of the bullet when it impacts the outer ceramic plate. This phenomenon results in an advanced damage zone behind the ceramic plate. Upon the penetration of the bullet through the damage zone, the ceramic plate can be broken by the shock wave, caused by the weakening of the overall compressive strength of the ceramic. However, thick ceramic plates (i.e., multilayer ceramic sheets that serve as a buffer area) can readily absorb the impact kinetic energy (i.e., suitable for evaluating structural deformation), which can greatly improve bulletproof efficiency and significantly reduce damage1,11.

In bulletproof applications using ceramic materials, small square or hexagonal structures in the form of plates are generally designed to a certain size, which can then be subsequently bonded with adhesives to form protective panels of the required size. However, the joint areas between ceramic plates form weak points that are easily penetrated by bullets, and the force generated by the bullets will also spread along the junctions. When the impact point is at the edge of the ceramic block, a complete ceramic cone (i.e., a bullet hole with an inverted pyramid shape) cannot be formed, resulting in a significant decrease in the impact resistance of the target plate. Generally, the impact resistance of the composite armor ceramic block can be reduced by about 30%.12 Due to this typical limitation, the structural design has changed from spliced right-angle (90°) edges to staggered half-lap joints when bulletproof panels are connected using traditional ceramic plates. The main beneficial effects of this structural form are: (1) the ceramic part at the joint is changed from a single layer to multiple layers (i.e., superimposition) to improve the protection capability; (2) the staggered half laps compared to traditionally spliced right-angle (90°) edges possess enhanced strength and stiffness near the ceramic plate joints; (3) the bonding strength of the adhesive at the joints of adjacent ceramic plates increases. Given these practical effects, the normal compressive strength of the bulletproof panel becomes much higher. These ceramic panels with a compact design will be bonded to the bulletproof back plate. After being subjected to the high-speed impact force of the bullet, the bulletproof performance of the ceramic pad joints would be as good as the main body of the materials which exhibit highly uniform bulletproof properties across the pads. The successful design of the final bulletproof pads was confirmed by numerical simulation and live shooting experiments. Thus, regulating the structural configuration of ballistic materials and verifying their anti-penetration performance can greatly help develop lightweight, yet practical, safe, and reliable protection equipment.

Initial ceramic-based composite armor was prepared using C/C-SiC ceramic as a main panel and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) sheet as a back plate, which were bonded by structural adhesive under heat and pressure (Figure S1 in supplementary information). The resulting armor body was tightened by using a fabric restraint frame that can readily prevent the ceramic-based bulletproof pad from prematurely collapsing upon bullet penetration. Subsequently, a crack-arresting layer (i.e., strong and tough adhesive film) was used to cover the top of the composite armor pad with the structural adhesive. It is noted that the preparation of the final armor is strongly dependent on the shape and size of the ceramic plate.

As the overall size of the ceramic composite armor mainly depends on the size of the initial ceramic plate, manufacturing the final bulletproof pad often requires optimal assembly techniques (i.e., lap joints and spliced plates). For example, conventionally spliced ceramic panels are common for the protection area with a side length greater than the maximum preparation size of a single ceramic panel, whereas staggered lapping of ceramic panels is recommended for the protection area with a single side length less than the maximum preparation size of a single ceramic plate. Prior to the design of bulletproof pads, the shape of ceramic panels should be properly selected regarding the bullet impact point (i.e., a complete crushing zone). The schematic diagram shows several ceramic panels possessing different distances from the center point to the edge (Fig. 1A and D), where the circular panel provides the largest crushing zone (i.e., best ballistic performance). However, splicing circular ceramic panels creates the greatest gaps, which can result in the worst ballistic performance. Thus, a regular hexagonal shape has been widely used to design ceramic plates, which have been selected to manufacture the final bulletproof pads.

The edge structure of the ceramic composite plate was optimized by half-lap joints of each ceramic panel (i.e., docking and connecting through the upper and lower layered structures) to design bulletproof pads (Fig. 1E and F). The edges of the ceramic panel were designed with concave grooves and convex ridges (protruding from the edges), where the concave grooves of one panel were connected to the convex ridges of the other panel. Among the edges of the ceramic panel, the concave grooves were located above the convex ridges, so that the cross-section along the center line of the corner (i.e., edge end face) formed an L-shaped structure. The remaining edges of the ceramic panel had convex ridges positioned above the concave grooves, resulting in an inverted L-shaped structure (i.e., the cross-section along the center line of the corner). When the ceramic panels were connected, the edges of a ceramic panel with a concave groove on the top and a convex ridge on the bottom were docked and buckled (i.e., half lap) with the edges of another bulletproof ceramic panel with a convex ridge on the top and a concave groove on the bottom. The ceramic plate is a regular quadrilateral or hexagonal structure consisting of two square and three regular hexagonal ceramic panels. The thickness of the convex ridge is d1 = 1/2 × D, where D is the thickness of the ceramic panel; the width of the convex ridge is d2 = (1.2 ~ 1.8) × d1, and the length of the convex ridge is d3 = (0.5 ~ 0.9) × L, where L is the length of the edge where the convex ridge is located. The thickness, depth, and length of the concave groove were greater than those of the convex ridge, and adhesive was applied to the contact cross section of the convex ridge and the concave groove when they were butt-jointed. In the numerical simulation of the anti-penetration performance of the upper and lower buckled ceramic panels, d2 = 1.5 × d1 and d3 = 0.8 × L.

Schematic diagram of the superimposed ceramic sheets with different shapes (A) and typical splicing patterns of ceramic sheet circular (B), square sheet (C), and hexagon sheet (D) along with the design of bulletproof plates with staggered half-lap joints: square (E) and regular hexagonal (F).

Subsequently, the production of armor was achieved mainly by using C/C-SiC ceramic plates and UHMWPE fiber-reinforced composite material. The C/C-SiC ceramics were initially prepared as bulletproof panel materials by the precursor conversion method13,14,15. The short carbon fiber preform (length: 300 ~ 500 μm, Luoyang Chemical Reagent Factory) was impregnated and cured with a precursor mainly composed of polycarbosilane (PCS, Ningbo Zhongxing New Material Technology Co., Ltd.). The ball-milled PCS powder was filtered through an 80-mesh metal sieve prior to use. The mixture was then treated at high temperatures to obtain C/C-SiC ceramics. The coated buckle-type bulletproof ceramic plates were prepared and used as the main bulletproof pad sample. At the same time, the UHMWPE fiber reinforced composite material (Xianning Haiwei Composite Materials Products Co., Ltd., Xianning City, Hubei Province, China) was utilized as a back plate since the backboard materials needed to be able to withstand the impact of ceramic fragments and broken shrapnel. These two materials were then bonded by a special structural adhesive, 3 M DP420LH gray-white two-part epoxy (3 M, Saint Paul, MN, USA), to form the ceramic composite armor body. After applying heat and pressure to a mold, the resulting armor body was firmly pasted on the edge and corner using an aramid fabric constraint frame. An aramid fabric crack arrest layer was finally pasted around the outside of the ceramic composite armor body, where the constraint frame was bonded. This entire process readily resulted in the production of armor samples prepared with C/C-SiC ceramics, UHMWPE composites, and crack arrest layer.

The accuracy of the ballistic performance is directly influenced by the existence of objective factors such as the charge of the ballistic gun, the state of the bullet impacting the target plate, the position of the target impact point, and the differences in the target plate preparation process16,17,18,19,20,21,22. Thus, the numerical simulation can be validated by live fire experiments to eliminate any potential interferences from external factors in actual testing.

This live fire experiment was conducted in accordance with GJB59.18-1988, “Armored Vehicle Test Procedure Armor Plate Anti-Bullet Performance Test”. A ballistic gun ammunitioned with a 12.7 mm armor-piercing bullet was placed 30 m away from the target pad, where the bullet traveled to the target plate with an incident speed of 488 ± 5 m/s (Fig. 2). The bullet speed was measured using a velocimeter. The high-speed camera lens and the grid back wall coincide with the normal face center of the side of the target plate. The equipment used in this experiment was the following: ballistic gun (1 ea), 12.7 mm caliber armor-piercing incendiary bullets (4 ea), infrared light curtain speed meters (4 ea), high-speed camera (1 ea), projectile interception device (1 ea) after penetrating the target plate, laser level (1 ea), walkie-talkie (1 ea), and ceramic composite armor target pads (12).

Schematic diagram of the live fire test setup according to MIL-A-46103E III Class 2 A guidelines.

For the numerical simulation2,3,6,23,24, the bulletproof index adopts the American standard MIL-A-46,103 E, Class III 2 A; the bulletproof front and bulletproof back plates in each scheme use the same thickness and area of C/C-SiC ceramic plates as the front bulletproof plate, and the same area of UHMWPE fiber composite material as the bulletproof back plate, which is superimposed to form a ceramic composite armor target pad. The bullet will then impact the designated position of the bulletproof panel at high speed. Three different bullet penetration schemes were computationally modeled for various ceramic composite armor samples, which were prepared by staggering and traditionally splicing square and hexagonal ceramic plates (Table 1).

Based on the bullet penetration position scheme (discussed later), the bullet penetration points of the ceramic composite armor studied in this work were 12 different spots in the normal direction. Examples of the numerical model are shown in the supplementary information section (Figure S2). Since the crack stop layer mainly prevents the ceramic bulletproof pad from prematurely collapsing after the bullet penetrates, it does not form too much resistance to the impact of the bullet. Therefore, the crack stop layer is ignored in the numerical simulation. The bonding layer directly affects the propagation of stress waves when the bullet penetrates the ceramic composite armor. A 0.5 mm thick bonding layer is defined between each bulletproof layer. The used bullet is defined as a rigid body with 12.7 mm steel (ID) and a body length of about 63 mm. A normal velocity load of 488 m/s is applied to the bullet. The bullet and the target plate are meshed using a hexahedral solid mesh. The mesh division of the bullet penetration position, which is greatly affected by the bullet impact force, is relatively dense, and the mesh division of other areas is relatively sparse. Non-reflection boundary conditions are applied to the boundaries of the ceramic composite armor, and the displacement of the boundaries is constrained. Surface to surface friction contact is defined between the bullet and the ceramic composite armor target pad. All defined contacts use the “single-side penetration contact” algorithm, and the penalty function method is used. In addition, the bullet is defined as a rigid body. All numerical simulation parameters (Table S1-Table S4) and details along with constitutive equations and failure criteria, including ceramic main body materials, UHMWPE backboard materials, and adhesive materials, are available in the supplementary information section.

Based on the numerical simulation results of the staggered and spliced composite armor samples mentioned above, the hexagonal ceramic plates have the best anti-penetration performance. Thus, the staggered and spliced composite armor pads prepared with hexagonal ceramic plates were subjected to live shooting experiments to compare and verify their anti-penetration performance. Two bullets were fired at one of the staggered ceramic composite armor pads to verify its ability to resist multiple strikes. As the anti-penetration performance of the middle position is quite different from that of the intersection of the ceramic plate joints, this work does cover live fire verification in these sample positions. It is noted that the exact impact point could not fall on the middle position and intersection of the ceramic plate joints during the live shooting test for traditionally spliced and staggered ceramic composite armor pads due to the small size of the ceramic plates.

To take full advantage of ceramic properties in ballistic performance, the selection of initial materials after understanding fundamental properties is key to the design idea of bulletproof pads. For example, elastic modulus, density, and hardness are key indicators affecting the ballistic performance of ceramics. A high elastic modulus ensures the strong resistance of bulletproof materials that can decrease the deformation and compression of a bullet (e.g., improving the capability of the ceramic bulletproof panel to resist multiple strikes); a lower density meets the requirements of protective equipment for lightweight and maneuverability;5,25,26 when the bullet penetrates the ceramic bulletproof panel, the bullet is studded, crushed, and energy absorbed by the materials. Among common bulletproof ceramic materials, including SiC, Al2O3, Si3N4, and B4C4,27,28,29,30, B4C-based ceramics have shown the best bulletproof performance. Although these ceramic materials possess the highest hardness and the lowest density, they are not easy to sinter and are the most expensive raw materials. The cheapest Al2O3-derived ceramic materials have shown the highest density, but the worst bulletproof performance has been reported due to the lowest hardness. SiC ceramics have intermediate hardness and density, where their ballistic performance and price are between B4C and Al2O3 materials, making them suitable for designing ceramic-based composite armor. Recently, the introduction of carbon fiber and other reinforcements into the SiC ceramic material has become an important research direction to improve their ability to resist multiple bullet strikes31. Considering the performance parameters of common ceramic bulletproof materials (Table S5), the elastic modulus, hardness, and bending strength of C/C-SiC ceramics have no clear advantages over other materials4,28,32,33,34. However, the proper fabrication of bulletproof pads from low density and high breaking tenacity C/C-SiC composite ceramics could provide the following advantage: a lightweight composite armor material capable of resisting multiple strikes.

The main function of bulletproof backing materials is to support the ceramic bulletproof plate and absorb the residual kinetic energy of the bullet body32,33. In terms of support function, the strength of the supporting force provided by the bulletproof backing material has a great impact on the overall bulletproof performance of ceramic composite armor. The moment a bullet penetrates a ceramic bulletproof plate, the ceramic bends and deforms due to the impact of the bullet. Damage occurs when the impact force exceeds the bending strength. If the support of the bulletproof backrest is weak, the ceramic bulletproof panel will break prematurely and the mechanical properties of the ceramic material will not be displayed properly. Therefore, bulletproof backing materials should be selected with sufficient thickness and energy absorption performance to withstand the impact of ceramic fragments and broken shrapnel. Commonly used materials for bulletproof backboards include metal and fiber composites. The density of fiber bulletproof backing is much lower than that of metal-based bulletproof materials. Table 2 lists the performance indicators of several common bulletproof backboard materials4,17,26,32,35,36,37. The metal-derived materials have high elongation and good toughness, but their densities are far greater than composite materials to meet lightweight requirements. Thus, polymer-based composite materials are more commonly used for bulletproof backboards, particularly UHMWPE fiber composite materials as the bulletproof backboard material.

Based on the screening process of ceramic composite and back plate materials as well as structural modifications, the following striking pads were prepared for live fire tests (Fig. 3). Additional shapes of ceramic plates are available in supplementary information (Figure S3). In addition, the general physical properties of the resulting ceramic composite armor samples are also summarized in Table S6.

Preparation of ceramic composite armor pads (A) using (B) C/C-SiC ceramic plates and (C) UHMWPE composite back plates.

Two examples of armor samples prepared from hexagonal and square ceramic plates were simulated upon impact with a bullet at high velocity (Fig. 4)3,6,24,31,38. As soon as the bullet impacted the staggered ceramic composite armor prepared with hexagonal and square ceramic plates (Fig. 4A and B), the stress wave started at the point of impact and quickly spread to the surroundings, causing rapid cracks in a radial pattern (i.e., a gradual increase in bullet holes). During the penetration process, the stress wave was notably restricted by the boundary of the ceramic plate, which readily limited the further expansion of the ceramic crack. This entire process finally caused the ceramic plate to form an inverted cone shape6. Specifically, as the bullet hit the staggered ceramic bulletproof pad at high speed, the ceramic plate near the impact point was notably compressed and crushed (Fig. 4C). The impact force of the stress wave spread to the adjacent ceramic plates, which induced the misalignment of the ceramic plates, thereby consuming the energy of the projectile impact. The structural changes in relative positions could reduce the tendency of the ceramic plates to break. However, the energy absorption by the dislocated ceramic plates was somewhat limited, particularly in the joint area between the ceramic plates. Thus, the residual kinetic energy of the projectile was transmitted to the backside of the ceramic composite plate, resulting in a large backface signature (BFS) depth (i.e., inverse convexity) in the bulletproof pad.

The time-velocity history curves of a bullet penetrating the target plate at 12 different locations were simulated and plotted in the same graph (Fig. 5). It was observed that the velocity of the bullet rapidly reduced when the bullet penetrated the center of the ceramic plates, and the velocity of bullet gradually decreased in the middle of the joint between two adjacent ceramic plates. The bullet’s velocity decreased most slowly when the bullet penetrated the joint intersection of adjacent ceramic plates. The reason is that bullet speed drops sharply due to the nature of the high-hardness and high-strength ceramic plate when the bullet penetrates the center position. The impact kinetic energy of the bullet is then absorbed by the breakage and dislocation of the ceramic plate. When a bullet penetrated the middle of the joint between two adjacent ceramic plates possessing relatively weak rigidity and strength, the ceramic plate broke and the absorbed energy was limited. Thus, the remaining kinetic energy of the bullet was absorbed in a relatively large area, causing dislocation of the ceramic plate and/or deformation of the bulletproof back plate (i.e., BFS). Lastly, the absorbing energy by the ceramic plate was far more limited when the bullet penetrated the intersection of the joints of adjacent ceramic plates possessing the weakest stiffness and strength. The remaining kinetic energy severely damaged the ceramic plate, further aggravating the dislocation and/or deformation of the bullet-proof back plate. The velocity reduction (deceleration) of the bullet can then be ranked from large to small in the following order: staggered hexagonal ceramic plates, staggered square ceramic plates, traditionally spliced hexagonal ceramic plates, and traditionally spliced square ceramic plates.

A sequence of stress wave transmission process (i.e., Von Mises stress plots) of a staggered composite armor prepared with hexagonal (A) and square (B) ceramic plates at different simulation times as well as the simulated appearance of ceramic composite armor pad after being penetrated by a projectile (C).

Schematic diagram of the impact points and corresponding numerical simulation of bullet penetrations through center and different joints of the ceramic composite pads (staggered hexagonal plates for case 1–3, staggered square plates for case 4–5, spliced hexagonal plates for case 7–9, and spliced square for case 10–12).

The BFS depth (i.e., the convex height on the back) and the time at zero penetration velocity (V0 time) of ceramic composite pads are the main indicators for evaluating the bulletproof performance of the armor, among which the rear convex height is the most important evaluation parameter3,11,33,39,40,41,42. The information on the BFS depth and V0 time of numerical simulation (the remaining velocity of the penetrated target plate) is shown in Fig. 6; Table 3. Considering the same size of ceramic plates, the penetration resistance of the staggered ceramic plates was much greater bulletproof performance than that of the traditionally spliced ceramic plates. For instance, the penetration resistance at the joint was examined to be improved by about 14.8% when the bullet did not penetrate the target plate. This improvement was determined by comparing the BFS depth simulation value as the evaluation parameter. Considering the V0 time as the evaluation parameter, the penetration resistance improved by about 15.2% when the bullet penetrated the target plate. The penetration resistance improved by about 12.2–23.4% when the bullet residual speed was used as the evaluation parameter (Figure S4 in supplementary information). Upon examining the bullet impact on the center part of the ceramic sheet, the penetration resistance improved by about 12.8 to 14.2% based on the BFS depth. The penetration resistance improved by about 20.0 to 20.7% by comparing the V0 time. Thus, the anti-penetration performance of the bulletproof materials can also be ranked from best to worst as follows: staggered hexagonal, staggered square, traditionally spliced hexagonal, and traditionally spliced square ceramic plates.

Comparison of BFS depth and V0 time at various bullet locations.

Examples of the ceramic composite armor after bullet impact are presented in Figure S5 (supplementary information). No clear large-scale ceramic shedding was observed at the bullet impact point as the various bulletproof layers were well bonded. A bullet hole appeared at the impact point (dotted circles in red) on the front of the target pad, and a backside convexity (i.e., BFS depth) occurred at the corresponding impact point on the other side. As the bullet did not penetrate the target plate, the anti-penetration performance of the ceramic composite armor readily met the requirements of the US MIL-A-46,103 E III Class 2 A bulletproof standard (BFS depth up to 44 mm for the National Institute of Justice Standards 0101.06 of the United States Department of Justice and 25 mm for the Professional Standard GA 141–2010 of the People’s Republic of China)25,41,42. The BFS depth of the ceramic composite armor was compared to the numerical simulation results after the bullet impact test (Table 4). The measured results for the BFS depth of the target plate were consistent with the numerical simulation results, which confirmed the accuracy of the numerical simulation results. Thus, the numerical simulation method used in this work can accurately predict the anti-penetration capability of ceramic composite armor. By comparing the BFS depth shown in the table, this research can conclude the following two main facts: (1) Under a single bullet strike, the bulletproof performance of the staggered ceramic composite armor was far better than that of the traditionally spliced ceramic composite armor; (2) The designed staggered ceramic composite plates possessed the capability to resist multiple bullet strikes, where the anti-penetration performance can be further diminished.

The morphological features for the impact point of the ceramic composite armor are presented after the projectile impact (Figure S6 in supplementary information). When the location of the impact point was in the middle of a single ceramic plate of the spliced ceramic composite armor, the ceramic piece was dented and completely shattered by the projectile (Figure S6A). It was evident that the ceramic plates were visibly misaligned around the impact point. However, the location of the impact point was at the ceramic plate joint of the staggered ceramic composite armor, the projectile damaged the pad without noticeable misalignment of the ceramic plates (Figure S6B). These experimental observations strongly suggested the importance of structural fabrications to design bulletproof materials with significantly improved performance. The inability of high-speed real bullets to penetrate these amor pads, especially those prepared from the structurally tuned ceramic composite plates, strongly suggests that their ballistic performance fully meets the requirements of bulletproof standards (BFS depth maximum of 44 mm for the US NIJ Standard 0101.06 and 25 mm for the Chinese Standard GA 141–2010, respectively). Properly fabricating the structure of bulletproof materials and understanding their ballistic damage mechanisms allow for manufacturing lightweight, yet highly practical protection equipment that can be directly applicable to the battlefield.

This work demonstrates a strategy to modify lightweight ceramic-based composite armor to address the insufficient anti-penetration performance of bullets, particularly at the joints of spliced panels exhibiting weak and uneven bulletproof properties. By optimizing the edge structure of bulletproof ceramic plates, a staggered ceramic composite armor with lightweight was designed using C/C-SiC ceramic composite and UHMWPE materials. Subsequently, the anti-penetration property of bullets was examined by the numerical simulation of impact dynamics, where the accuracy of the simulation was verified by live fire experiments using the composite armor under high-speed penetration of projectiles. Based on the tests, the established dynamic constitutive model of anti-penetration performance effectively analyzed and predicted the anti-penetration performance of the ceramic-based composite armor. It was also revealed that regulating the edge structure of ceramic panels (i.e., staggered ceramic plates) greatly improved the anti-penetration ability of the ceramic panel joints, which can provide a new technical approach to improve the bulletproof uniformity of traditional spliced ceramic composite armor. More importantly, none of the prepared ceramic composite armor displayed bullet penetration (i.e., anti-penetration performance) to meet the requirements of the MIL-A-46103EIII Class 2 A bulletproof standard. These findings are of great significance in expanding the design of ceramic-based composite armor that can significantly improve the overall level of protection.

All data collected and analyzed in the course of this study are included in this manuscript and its supplements. Any supporting data for this article is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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We gratefully acknowledge the support from Luoyang Institute of Science and Technology, Luoyang Bearing Research Institute Co., Ltd., Henan University of Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, and Illinois State University. We also thank the support from Henan International Joint Laboratory of Cutting Tools and Precision Machining; Henan Key Laboratory of green building materials manufacturing and intelligent equipment.

This work was financially supported by China National Key Research Project (2023YEB3406500); the Science and Technology Research Projects of Henan Province, China (242102231017; 232102231008); the Higher Education Reform Research and Practice Project of Henan Province, China (2024SJGLX0514); and China National Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program (202311070012; 202311070030).

School of Intelligent Manufacturing, Luoyang Institute of Science and Technology, Luoyang, 471023, China

Zhiyong Chen, Jian Hou, Jing Qin & Shuaishuai Cui

Luoyang Bearing Research Institute Co., Ltd, Luoyang, 471003, China

Zhiyong Chen & Fei Gao

School of Mechatronics Engineering, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, 471003, China

Zhiyong Chen & Sier Deng

School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

Yingqiang Xu

Department of Chemistry, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 61790-4160, USA

Jun-Hyun Kim

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Z. Chen: Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Funding Acquisition, Investigation, Project Administration, Writing Original editing; J. Hou: Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Supervision, Writing Review/editing; F. Gao and S. Deng: Formal Analysis, Investigation; Y. Xu: Conceptualization, Writing Review/editing, Funding Acquisition; J. Qin and S. Cui: Investigation, Methodology; J.-H. Kim: Conceptualization, Project Administration, Writing Review/editing.

Correspondence to Zhiyong Chen, Jian Hou or Jun-Hyun Kim.

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Chen, Z., Hou, J., Gao, F. et al. Analysis of bulletproof performance of structurally optimized ceramic composite armor through numerical simulation and live fire test. Sci Rep 14, 31685 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80752-0

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Received: 29 August 2024

Accepted: 21 November 2024

Published: 30 December 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-80752-0

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