COMPARISON OF NDE METHODS FOR INSPECTION OF COMPOSITE CERAMIC ARMOUR

• Published in: Ceramic Engineering and Science Proceedings Vol. 31; no. 5; pp. 13 - 23
• Main Authors: Ellingson, W A, Koehl, E R, Meitzler, T J, Franks, L P, Steckenrider, J S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Armor; Armour; Arrays; Ballistic impact tests; Ceramics; Immersion; Nondestructive testing; Ultrasound
• ISBN: 9780470594704; 0470594705
• ISSN: 0196-6219
• DOI: 10.1002/9780470944004.ch2

A US Army-supported project, Effects of Defects, was established to help identify appropriate NDE modalities for inspecting layered ceramic-composite armour. As a part of this effort, a series of 84 40 cm (16-inch) square by 50 mm (2-inch) thick, multi-layered ceramic-composite armour specimens was prepared and "inspected" using an array of Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) methods. Some of the test panels had "design defects" located in the interior - some did not. All samples were ballistically impacted and inspected before and after ballistic testing. The question of which NDE modality might best be used to quantify ballistically induced damage was addressed. NDE modalities under study included: immersion phased array ultrasonics; through-transmission, direct-digital X-ray imaging; non-contact scanning microwaves; air-coupled ultrasound; and immersion, through-transmission and pulse-echo single transducer ultrasound. All 84 samples were inspected prior to ballistic testing. Details of the project, an overview of the NDE techniques, issues that were uncovered and results obtained are presented and discussed.