Analytical investigation of perforation of aluminum- foam sandwich panels under ballistic impact

In this paper, a new analytical model has been presented for energy absorption of aluminum-foam sandwich panels under ballistic impact. The panels consist of foam core sandwiched between two aluminum skins. In analytical model two types of sticker including cylindrical projectile with flat and hemispherical ended have been considered. It is supposed that aluminum skins failure by mean resistive pressure. Also foam absorbed a partial of projectile energy by crushing. Energy absorption of aluminum-foam sandwich panel is calculated and energy balancing equation has been employed for determination the ballistic limit and residual velocity of projectiles. The results of ballistic limit and residual velocity computed by new model have good agreement with experimental results. Also the effects of projectile mass and diameter in energy absorption of sandwich panel has been investigated.