Comparative study on antiballistic behaviour of AlMg10-SiCp type cellular ultralight composite metal materials

This paper presents a study done on metallic materials composite ultralight cell type AlMg10-SiCp, obtained by two methods, chosen to assume minimal costs of production: a method based on melt bubbling with a reactive gas and a method based on using various salts powders particles, soluble in suitable solvents. First method is suitable for obtaining ultralight composite with open and semi-open cell. By the second one we achieved ultralight porous composite materials, with a metal foam structure characterized by generally semi-open cells. There are presented both technological flows for obtaining ultralight cell type composites. The porosity of these materials increases with the percentage of added SiC particles, no matter of used method of achievement. The antiballistic behavior refers basically to the impact of a small/medium caliber bullet shot on a light armor built on the base of obtained AlMg-SiC metallic cell composites. Thus, a 35 mm thick armor was achieved by using only cellular or porous composites of AlMg10 with 15% SiC. These proved to be effective enough for a 9 mm projectile not to pass through, with the minimum penetration depth observed for the porous composite. It has been observed that up to a speed of about 320 m/s the projectile is braked more efficiently by the cellular composite material, which can be explained on the basis of the microstructure and the dependence of the coefficient of friction on the density of the material.