Abstract
The fracture toughness of a series of passive armor candidate substructures has been evaluated using impact testing with special reference to interleaving viscoelastic layers fabricated in-house. A segmented polyurethane (PU) elastomer, its cross-linked counterpart and its glass fiber composite, two forms of granite, Mn-steel and the titanium (Ti) alloy, Ti-6Al-4V were tested. The PU composite exhibited the highest impact strength (IS) followed by Ti-alloy, which showed intercrystalline, cup and cone fracture typical of highly ductile materials. Viscoelastic PU exhibited maximum energy absorption without being fractured. When used in conjunction with ductile materials, the PU augments the IS, but not so well in league with the brittle ones. The significant superior energy absorption by PU is analyzed and explained in terms of the nanostructures, attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy (AlR-IR) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) of the polymer.

M. Bilal Khan. (2008) Evaluation of Fracture Toughness of Composite Armor Substructures, NUST Journal of Engineering Sciences , Volume 1, Issue 1.
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