On the comparison of the ballistic performance of steel and laminated composite armors

Steels have been widely used as armor materials in defense applications, but they have the disadvantage of a relatively high density. Hence, they are not suitable for lightweight armor production. On the other hand, laminated composites have important potential on the reducing armor weight compared to steels for the same ballistic protection. This study presents the ballistic performance of steel against 7.62 mm armor piercing projectiles. High strength low alloy steel (50CrV4) was chosen as steel armor for ballistic testing. Three areal density values were kept constant to compare ballistic performance of steel armor specimens with alumina/aluminum laminated composite specimens. In addition, in steel samples, the effect of hardness on the ballistic performance was examined. Furthermore, failure mechanisms were investigated after ballistic testing. According to the experimental results, laminated composites maintained 26% weight saving compared to steel.