Materials and Design 91 (2016) 294–305

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Materials and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Design and impact resistant analysis of functionally graded Al2O3–ZrO2

ceramic composite
Chin-Yu Huang a, Yu-Liang Chen b,⁎
a
School of Defense Science, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology, National Defense University, No. 75, Shiyuan Rd., Daxi Dist., Taoyuan City 33551, Taiwan
b
Dept. of Power Vehicle and Systems Engineering, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology, National Defense University, No. 75, Shiyuan Rd., Daxi Dist., Taoyuan City 33551, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Gradient concept is one of the solutions in advanced material design and structure control. Functionally graded
Received 14 August 2015 materials (FGMs) are materials which change their composition, constitution or structure continuously along
Received in revised form 23 November 2015 the direction of thickness; the property and function of those materials appear as changeable gradient character-
Accepted 24 November 2015
istics. In this research, powder metallurgy method was used to make the functionally graded Al2O3–ZrO2 com-
Available online 2 December 2015
posite, which was backed with 6061-T6 aluminum alloy plate. For comparing purpose, we also make
Keywords:
multilayer Al2O3–ZrO2 composite and pure Al2O3 composite under the same areal density. Based on NIJ IV stan-
FGM dard, ballistic test was executed on the three kinds of samples by using 0.30″ armor piercing projectile (AP). Finite
Ballistic test element software ANSYS/LS-DYNA was also used to simulate stress distribution and fracture of these composites
ANSYS/LS-DYNA under impact. It was shown from ballistic test that FGM had the best impact resistant performance. Normally,
Impact resistance multilayer ceramic structure will be fractured after impact because of the tensile wave caused by the interlayer.
Microstructure Through SEM observation, delamination was not found in the interlayer of FGM. This phenomenon reduced the
tensile wave occurred in the interface between layers and delayed the crack propagation, resulting in a higher
ballistic resistance capability structure.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Ceramics have been used in protective equipment for more than 50
years. In the Vietnam War, ceramics were widely used for the first time
in bulletproof vests and helicopter seats [1]. Ceramics have received
considerable international attention in recent years and have been sub-
jected to extensive research. The increasing use of small-caliber armor-
piercing bullets on battlefields has necessitated the development of
novel light-weight armor [2]. Numerous recent studies have investigat-
ed the wave impedance performance of ceramics and rear plate combi-
nations, adhesives used in between materials, sandwich layer structural
material combinations, and multilayer material combinations.
Grouch et al. [3] used DRA-DYNA-2D to simulate the impact resis-
tance of aluminum multilayer plates having various adhesive layer
thickness levels. They also used SHPB to test the dynamic behavior of
epoxy resin at varying strain rates and temperatures and modified the
Cowper–Symonds equation.
Zaera et al. [4] used two types of adhesives, namely polyurethane
(soft adhesive) and epoxy resin (rigid adhesive), to conduct impact re-
sistance experiments on ceramic composite materials. For each type of
adhesive, three thicknesses were considered: 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mm. The
results showed that the 1.5 mm adhesive reduced the fracturing
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ylchen427@gmail.com (Y.-L. Chen).
inflicted on the ceramic and that the rigid adhesive reduced the fractur-
ing more than the soft adhesive did.
Arias et al. [5] developed a novel adhesive by using ceramic particles
and a polymeric matrix. They applied the adhesive between ceramic
and metal plates and conducted ballistic experiments to test the
bullet-resistant abilities of the plates.
Lopez-Puente et al. [6] investigated the influence of the thickness of
an adhesive on the impact resistance of ceramic–metal composite
plates. The results showed that reducing the thickness of the adhesive
layer reduced the shear-stress-induced fracturing on the rear plate,
and the simulation software program they used indicated an optimal
adhesive layer thickness of 0.3 mm.
Chen et al. [7,8] combined two layers of aluminum with aluminum
foam in a sandwich structure and conducted ballistic tests as well as
an LS-DYNA numerical simulation to analyze the effect of the projectile
shape on the multilayer structure. Furthermore, they derived mathe-
matical models for penetration depth, ballistic limit, and residual termi-
nal velocity.
The variations in the elastic modulus, hardness, and density between
a ceramic front plate and a tough rear plate lead to a mismatch of inter-
layer wave impedance and localization of stress. The tensile wave in-
duced by a bullet penetration causes severe fracturing to the ceramic
front plate; however, when mismatched adhesives are used, the impact
wave can easily cause interlayer delamination, considerably reducing
the ability of the ceramic armor to resist multiple impacts. Regarding

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2015.11.091
0264-1275/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 C.-Y. Huang, Y.-L. Chen / Materials and Design 91 (2016) 294–305 295

Nomenclature

C wave velocity
E Young's modulus
F reflection coefficient
M material parameter
T transmission coefficient
V velocity
X percentage by volume
ΔE absorptive energy
σ strength
ρ density Fig. 1. Radical weight reduction for future ground vehicles.

ν Poisson's ratio

the fabricated material. Subsequently, they used bullets measuring

Subscripts
7.62 mm to compare the ballistic resistance. The results revealed that
a initial velocity
the FGM produced using the SPS method exhibited excellent ballistic re-
b residual velocity
sistance; small grain growth and denser materials can be attained by
c material (Al2O3)
using the SPS method and short-duration low-temperature sintering.
d material (ZrO2)
Sun. et al. [12] discovered that ceramic sintering produces residual
i incident wave
stress, mainly because of a dissimilar sintering temperature and thermal
t transmission wave
expansion coefficient. They designed an optimal shrinkage and
r reflection wave
sintering curve, producing a three-layer Al2O3/ZrO2 FGM.
0 tensile
Zhang et al. [13] used a DOP method to analyze the ballistic re-
1 front plate
sistance of materials containing 95% alumina ceramic and 10%
2 rear plate
zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) ceramic when impacted by

the establishment of a mathematical model for sandwich structures or

multilayer structures, the condition of adhesive layers has been
disregarded in most assumptions because the differences in the wave
impedance vary considerably with the adhesive layer, and the produced
reflection stress wave is relatively complex. Functionally graded mate-
rials (FGMs) can help reduce the post-impact delamination between ce-
ramic and metal plates and alleviate the effect of the reflection waves;
thus, the twenty-first century scholars have proposed new graded
armor.
Impact resistance design emphasizes light weight, low cost, and sim-
ple manufacturing processes; therefore, “gradient” is a crucial novel
technology in material design and structure control. FGMs are novel
materials with continuously changing constituent elements (composi-
tion and structure), for example, continuous changes in thickness.
Such changes lead to gradient variations in the properties and functions
of materials. FGMs were first designed in the field of aeronautics and as-
tronautics. Once the concept of such design emerged, it received consid-
erable attention among international scholars and it has already been
applied in electronics, nuclear energy, optics, biomedicine, and the mil-
itary. Weapon attacks and armor protection have been improved be-
cause of the technological advancement. When considering protection
and mobility, increasing impact resistance capability and reducing
weight is always an objective in armor design. Since 2001, the U.S. De-
partment of Defense has allocated a large yearly budget to FGM research
to develop lighter and stronger protective equipment that can with-
stand multiple impacts as well as to conduct research on novel material
manufacturing processes. The Department has also gradually published
numerous research reports. Therefore, the design of protective battle-
field materials is trending toward lightweight materials (Fig. 1) [9].
Guo et al. [10] used hydroxyapatite (HA) ceramics and yttria-
stabilized tetragonal zirconia (Y-TZP) composite powders and adopted
the spark plasma sintering (SPS) method to manufacture HA/Y-TZP
FGM. A bending test revealed that the strength of the produced FGM
was 200 MPa, which was twice that of pure HA ceramics.
Pettersson et al. [11] employed SPS technology to produce a TiB2–Ti
graded material and applied a hot isostatic pressing sintering method to Fig. 2. Specimens for ballistic test.
296 C.-Y. Huang, Y.-L. Chen / Materials and Design 91 (2016) 294–305

Fig. 3. Profile of 0.30″ AP bullet and target.

long rod tungsten projectiles. They found that the ZTA ceramic en-
hanced ballistic resistance.
Ewais et al. [14] designed a tailored zirconia–mullite/(0–100 vol%)
alumina FGM. They used reaction sintering to produce an 11-layer
FGM; a mechanical property test indicated that the FGM possessed
high strength and mechanical and thermal properties.
Gupta et al. [2] used SPS sintering to produce TiB2/(10, 20 wt.%)Ti
FGM. They used small-caliber armor-piercing bullets to test the ballistic
resistance of the fabricated material. The results showed that the ballis-
tic efficiency (η) of the TiB2/Ti FGM, TiB2/(10 wt.%)Ti, TiB2/(20 wt.%)Ti,
and TiB2 (monolithic) composite materials were in the range 5.1–5.9.
In addition, the ballistic efficiency decreased when the thickness of the
FGM was increased from 5 to 7.8 mm.
Übeyli et al. [15] used powder metallurgy to produce SiC/(80, 90,
100 wt.%) Al 7075 and SiC/(60, 80, 100 wt.%) Al 7075 FGMs. They
used armor-piercing bullets to test impact resistance and analyzed the
fracture behavior in the microstructure of the ceramic by using scanning
electron microscopy (SEM) to irradiate fragments. The results revealed
that FGM (up to a thickness of 25 mm) did not exhibit improved ballistic
resistance.
Lin and Xue et al. [16,17] implanted a TiNi Shape Memory Alloy
(SMA) into a fiber composite material and then used 9 mm full metal
jacket bullets to test ballistic resistance. They altered the arrangement,
quantity, and thickness of the SMA and adopted the Taguchi method
and ANOVA analysis method to analyze absorptive energy. They con-
Fig. 5. Model diagram of numerical simulation.
cluded that the optimal combination resulted in a 19% increase in the
absorptive energy. Furthermore, they used the laws of thermodynamics
to calculate a phenomenological constitutive model for FGM-SMA. This element model, to simulate a uniaxial compression test on FGM-SMA
model was then combined with another mathematical model, a finite cylinders. The simulation and test results revealed the mean stress
and strain relation, cross-sectional stress distribution, and absorptive
energy properties of the FGM-SMA cylinders.
The preceding literature review indicates that many scholars
have already conducted experiments and simulations on ceramic-
toughened composite materials and FGM design and evaluated the
impact resistance of the materials. However, few studies have been
published on the processes of fabricating materials and evaluating
the mechanical properties of ceramic–ceramic FGMs, and the impact
resistance of the resulting materials has not been evaluated.

Table 1
MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC model parameters [27].

Materials ρ0 (g/cm3) E (Mbar) ν σy Et

(Mbar) (Mbar)

Steel 7.89 2.02 0.3 0.01 0.02

Epoxy resin 1.15 0.0114 0.49 0.00043 0.00036
Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of ballistic test.
 C.-Y. Huang, Y.-L. Chen / Materials and Design 91 (2016) 294–305 297

Table 2
MAT_ELASTIC_PLASTIC_HYDRO and EOS_GRUNEISEN model parameters [27].

Materials MAT_ELASTIC_PLASTIC_HYDRO EOS_GRUNEISEN

ρ0 (g/cm3) G (Mbar) σy (Mbar) Eh C0 (cm/μs) S1 γ0

Copper 8.93 0.477 0.0012 0.00288 0.394 1.489 2.02

6061-T6 2.7 0.26 0.0027 0.00235 0.524 1.4 1.97

Therefore, in the current study, Al2O3 and ZrO2 were used to produce
an FGM and its impact resistance properties were analyzed.

2. Experimental setup and procedure

2.1. Materials selection and processing

In selecting FGMs, using similar thermal expansion coefficients and Fig. 6. Initial velocity against residual velocity of different specimens.
sintering conditions is crucial because doing so can prevent stress
concentration and spallation. Therefore, the ceramics Al2O3 and
3 mol% Y2O3-stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) were used in the present calculated using the law of energy conservation, as following
study; the thermal expansion coefficient of Al2O3 is 8.6 × 10−6/°C and
1 1
that of 3YSZ is 10.1 × 10−6/°C. The powder was spray granulated, and ΔE ¼ mV 2a − mV 2b ð1Þ
the Al2O3 particle size d50 was 44 μm and the 3YSZ particle size was 2 2
17.9 μm. Powder metallurgy sintering was used to create a four-layer
(100, 90, 80, 70 vol.%) Al2O3/(0, 10, 20, 30 vol.%) ZrO2 FGM at a sintering
3. Stress wave theory
temperature of 1550 °C, and the relative density of each ceramic layer
was 99.4%–99.8%.
The transmission of stress waves is similar to that of light waves.
When a stress wave is transmitted from one medium into another neigh-
2.2. Ballistic test boring medium, the dissimilar wave impedance of the two media creates
a reflection and transmission phenomenon of the stress wave on the in-
The impact-resistant ceramic specimens were regular hexagons terface between the two media. If both media have the same cross section
with a side length of 60 mm. The dimension of 6061-T6 Al backing area, the following equations are obtained by stress wave theory [18].
plate was 200 mm (length) × 200 mm (width) × 1 mm (thickness).
Epoxy resin was used as the adhesive between the ceramics and the ðρ2 C 2 Þ−ðρ1 C 1 Þ
F¼ ð2Þ
rear plate. The rear plate dimensions remained unchanged and only ðρ2 C 2 Þ þ ðρ1 C 1 Þ
those of the ceramics were varied. The design factors include areal den-
sity of ceramics 4.64 g/cm2 and the thickness 11 mm (without the adhe- 2ðρ2 C 2 Þ
T¼ ð3Þ
sive layer and rear plate). Under these conditions, the impact-resistant ðρ2 C 2 Þ þ ðρ1 C 1 Þ
ceramic specimens designed for the experiment comprised FGM, multi-
layer ceramic composite materials (MCMs), and purity ceramic com- σ r ¼ Fσ i ð4Þ
posite materials (PCMs) (Fig. 2). The projectiles used for the ballistic
σ t ¼ Tσ i ð5Þ
experiment were 0.30″ armor-piercing bullet, the profile of 0.30″ AP
bullet and target is shown in Fig. 3. The test specifications were in accor-
dance with the NIJ IV standard and the initial velocity was 868 ± 15 m/s.
The initial and terminal velocities were obtained using optical shutter (1) when ρ2C2 N ρ1C1, F N 0, and T N 1. The reflection and transmis-
velocimetry (Fig. 4), and the energy absorbed by the target plates was sion waves have the same properties as the incident wave; thus,

Table 3
Johnsone–Holmquist model parameters [28].

Materials ρ0 (g/cm3) G (Mbar) A B C M N

100% Al2O3 3.93 1.56 0.88 0.28 0.007 0.6 0.64

90% Al2O3/ 4.14 1.53 1 0.6 0.006 0.6 0.62
10% ZrO2
80% Al2O3/ 4.35 1.38 1 0.92 0.005 0.6 0.6
20% ZrO2
70% Al2O3/ 4.56 1.34 1 0.92 0.004 0.6 0.58
30% ZrO2

K1
Materials T (Mbar) Hel (Mbar) Phel (Mbar) D1 D2
(Mbar)

100% Al2O3 0.00259 0.0591 0.0185 0.01 0.7 2.5

90% Al2O3/ 0.00397 0.0978 0.0305 0.02 0.83 2.6
10% ZrO2
80% Al2O3/ 0.00429 0.1057 0.0033 0.03 0.96 2.34
20% ZrO2
70% Al2O3/ 0.00671 0.1657 0.0517 0.04 1 2.28
30% ZrO2
298 C.-Y. Huang, Y.-L. Chen / Materials and Design 91 (2016) 294–305

Table 4 A 1/4 model was used for establishing the ceramic composite plate
Experimental results. model (Fig. 5). Solid 164, a 3D modeling program, was used to establish
Average a model, and the model's specifications were the same as those of the
Areal density Thickness Average residual
Ceramics
(g/cm2) (mm) velocity (m/s)
absorptive energy experimental specimens. The adhesive used in this study is epoxy,
(J) which is usually used by ceramic manufacturing factory and the thick-
FGM 4.64 11 259 3349 ness of the adhesive layer is 0.5 mm, a reasonable thickness compared
MCM 4.64 11 573 2047 with that of ceramic layer (3 mm). To simplify the complexity of the
PCM 4.64 11.8 288 3295
projectile simulation, the lead was replaced with copper. The mesh
3.93 11 359 3108
size was approximately set as 0.5 mm [22,23] and the minimum ele-
ment size of the projectile was approximately 0.4 × 0.6 × 0.6 mm3
the compression wave (tensile wave) is reflected as the compres- and that of the target was 0.5 × 0.8 × 0.8 mm3 in the present study. In
sion wave (tensile wave); the three models, the mesh number of the FGM was 61,710, that of
(2) when ρ2C2 b ρ1C1, F b 0, and 0 b T b 1. The reflection and inci- the MCM was 75,898 and the PCM was 74,510. The mesh number of
dent waves have opposite properties, the transmission and inci- the projectile was 15,498 and adhesive was 14,400. Two materials,
dent waves have the same properties. Thus, the compression namely steel and copper, were used for creating the 0.30″ armor-
wave (tensile wave) is reflected as the tensile wave (compression piercing bullets. In the LS-DYNA simulation, MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC
wave); was used for the steel part and MAT_ELASTIC_PLASTIC_ HYDRO was
(3) when ρ2C2 = ρ1C1, the two media share the same wave imped- used for the copper part. These materials were modeled using the
ance. Therefore, F = 0 and T = 1. When the wave is transmitted Mie–Gruneisen equation of state (EOS_GRUNEISEN). Epoxy resin, ce-
to the interface between the two media, the transmission is com- ramic, and aluminum were used as the target plates. Furthermore,
plete and no reflection wave is generated. Although ρ and C differ MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC was used for the epoxy resin and
for both media, no reflection is generated when the stress wave MAT_ELASTIC_PLASTIC_HYDRO was used for the 6061-T6 aluminum
reaches the interface as long as the wave impedance is the same. plate. The material parameters used in the model were shown in
Tables 1–2 [24]. MAT_JOHNSON_HOLMQUIST_CERAMICS was used
for the ceramic. The material parameters used were shown in
Table 3, in which the density (ρ 0), shear modulus (G), tensile
4. ANSYS/LS-DYNA numerical simulation strength (T) and bulk modulus (K1 ) were obtained by tensile test
and ultrasonic non-destructive test. Hel and Phel were obtained by
In this study, ANSYS/LS-DYNA was used for conducting the simula- Eq. (6) and Eq. (7) [24,25]. Other parameters (i.e. A, B, C, M, N, D1
tion. LS-DYNA is an explicit nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis and D 2 ) cited the data listed in [25] or by mixture law M =
software program that can solve the dynamic response of various 2D McXc + MdXd. These materials were modeled using EOS_GRUNEISEN.
and 3D non-elastic structures during large deformation induced by The contact mode between the projectiles and target plates was de-
high-velocity impact and explosions [19–21]. ANSYS/LS-DYNA is a com- fined as CONTACT_ERODING_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE [26].
bination of the explicit finite element analysis program LS-DYNA with
the powerful pre- and post-processing functions of the ANSYS program.
The explicit LS-DYNA algorithm can rapidly solve transient large defor- 1−υ
Hel ¼ 8 σ0 ð6Þ
mation dynamics, large deformations, and multiple nonlinear quasi- ð1−2υÞ2
static problems as well as complex contact-impact problems. When
this combined program is employed, ANSYS can be used to establish a
 
model and LS-DYNA can be used to derive explicit solutions. LS-DYNA 1 1þυ
Phel ¼ Hel ð7Þ
can then be used for post-processing to examine the results. This 3 ð1−υÞ
study investigated the fracturing and deformation phenomena of ce-
ramic composite plates subjected to a high-velocity impact. Further-
more, to reduce the number of meshes and the computation time, a
Lagrange algorithm was used.
5. Results and discussion

5.1. Results of experiment and simulation

As shown in Fig. 6 and Table 4, the experimental results showed that

Fig. 7. Absorptive energy of experiment and simulation.
the FGM possessed optimal ballistic resistance under the conditions in-
volving both equal areal density (4.64 g/cm2) and equal thickness
(11 mm). The results of simulation showed good agreement with
those of ballistic test. Fig. 7 indicates that the error between the simula-
tion results and the experimental results is within 5%, confirming the ac-
curacy of the finite element simulation.
The initial and terminal velocities obtained in the experiment and
simulation can be used to calculate the target's absorptive energy ac-
cording to the energy conservation equations (Eq. (1)). Table 4 showed
that the absorptive energy of the FGM increased only by 1.64% when
compared with PCM under equal areal density (4.64 g/cm2) condition,
but the thickness of FGM was less than that of PCM. Under equal thick-
ness (11 mm) condition, the FGM was heavier than PCM by 18.1%.
However, FGM could absorb more energy than that of PCM by 7.8%.
The MCM showed poor capability in energy absorption because of the
adhesive effect.
 C.-Y. Huang, Y.-L. Chen / Materials and Design 91 (2016) 294–305 299

Table 5
Parameters of materials.

Materials Density ρ (kg/m3) Young's modulus E (GPa) Wave velocity C (m/s) Impedance coefficient ρC (106)

100% Al2O3 3930 393 10881 42.76

90% Al2O3/10% ZrO2 4147 370 10397 43.11
80% Al2O3/20% ZrO2 4355 357 9962 43.38
70% Al2O3/30% ZrO2 4560 344 9557 43.58
Epoxy resin 1150 1.14 996 1.14
6061-T6 Al 2700 67.6 5003 13.51

5.2. Stress wave analysis
When a projectile comes into contact with a target, an impact wave
perpendicular to the target is generated. This impact wave is the com-
pression wave. Because material layers of the target have different
wave impedance, the compression wave is reflected and transmitted
at the interface between each layer. Dissimilar material properties also
generate diverse reflection coefficients. When the reflection coefficient
is positive, the reflected wave is the compression wave; when the re-
flection coefficient is negative, the reflected wave is the tensile wave.
After the parameters were calculated (Table 5), the results indicated
that the compression wave was reflected as a tensile wave when the re-
flection coefficient between the ceramic and adhesive was F b 0 (the
minus sign indicates the direction) and the transmission coefficient
was 0 b T b 1. In addition, a higher absolute value of the reflection coef-
ficient indicates a stronger reflection wave. Therefore, increased reflec-
tion tensile stress causes increased tensile stress in ceramics. As shown
in Table 6(a) (columns I, III and V) and (b) and in Eq. (4), the reflection
wave produced by the MCM exceeded that exhibited by the FGM. Be-
cause the tensile strength of the ceramic material is considerably
lower than its compressive strength, the ceramic material easily
fractures and cracks. The transmission intensity increased with the
transmission coefficient, and because the stress wave velocity was con-
siderably greater than that of the projectile, the projectile did not reach
the next ceramic layer. However, the transmission wave already frac-
tured the next ceramic layer, thus reducing the ceramic's ability to resist
the projectile's penetration [29]. Table 6(a) (columns II, IV and VI) and
Eq. (5) show that the transmission intensity of the MCM is greater
than that of the FGM. The adhesive layer effect in the MCM also resulted
in an increase in reflection intensity and a dramatic increase or decline
in the transmission intensity. By contrast, the reflection and transmis-
sion intensities of the FGM decreased. The experimental results
(Fig. 8) showed that the level of cracking was less severe in the FGM
than it was in the MCM, and the ceramic cone area formed in the FGM
by the impact was integral, whereas the cone area of MCM exhibited ir-
regularities. The reason for this outcome is that the FGM exhibited no
adhesive layer effect, therefore the reflection coefficient was extremely
small, and then the tensile stress-induced fracturing in the ceramic
substantially decreased. Similar results were found by Tasdemirci et al.
[26]. The results from their work showed that the interlayer could
have a strong effect on the fragmentation behavior of the ceramic,
caused mainly by the reflection of compressive waves at the interlayer
due to the impedance mismatch. Besides, PCM was made of pure
Al2O3, therefore no layer effect on it. According to the experimental re-
sults, the ballistic resistance of the FGM and PCM were superior to that
of the MCM plate.
5.3. Microstructural analysis
SEM was used to observe the microstructure of the ceramic plates
after they were subjected to the high-velocity impact. The structural de-
sign of the FGM does not include an adhesive layer structure. Therefore,
the reflection tensile stress can be reduced and the bonding of the inter-
layer interfaces preserved, substantially reducing delamination. Fig. 9
indicates that each interface bond remains intact post-impact with no
severe cracking or delamination. Because of the adhesive layer effect,
the compression wave produced after the high-velocity impact was
reflected as a tensile wave, causing the ceramic to rapidly crack progres-
sively. As depicted in Fig. 10, obvious cracks were observed between the
ceramic and adhesive layers. Delamination was also noticed between
the ceramic and adhesive layers (Fig. 10(a)). In addition, Table 6(a)-IV
and Fig. 10 shows that when the transmission coefficient and transmis-
sion intensity increase, the transmission wave penetrates the adhesive
layer and produces a relatively large range of cracking. Thus, the ballistic
resistance of the FGM was superior to that of the MCM.
5.4. Numerical simulation analysis
In LS-DYNA software, the internal energy is the total strain energy
and is calculated by adding the stress and strain produced in six direc-
tions of every element. The simulation results (Fig. 11) showed that
the maximal internal energy in the MCM occurred at 16 μs, 4 μs earlier
than that in the FGM. This confirms that the adhesive layer caused the
reflection coefficient to increase, which in turn increased the reflected
energy that induced the 100% Al2O3 ceramic layer of the MCM to
reach maximal strain energy, causing the ceramic to fracture early. In

Table 6
The parameters of reflection coefficient and transmission coefficient.

(a) MCM

Epoxy resin—90% 90% Al2O3/ Epoxy resin—80% 80% Al2O3/ Epoxy resin—70%
100% Al2O3—epoxy resin
Interface Al2O3/10% ZrO2 10% ZrO2—epoxy resin Al2O3/20% ZrO2 20% ZrO2—epoxy resin Al2O3/ 30% ZrO2

I II III IV V VI

Reflection coefficient (F) −0.94806 0.94848 −0.94848 0.94879 −0.94879 0.94902

Transmission coefficient (T) 0.05193 1.94848 0.05152 1.94879 0.05120 1.94902

(b) FGM

100% Al2O3–
90% Al2O3/10% ZrO2 80% Al2O3/20% ZrO2
Interface 90% Al2O3/
–80% Al2O3/20% ZrO2 –70% Al2O3/30% ZrO2
10% ZrO2

Reflection coefficient (F) 0.00409 0.00314 0.00225

Transmission coefficient (T) 1.00409 1.00314 1.00225
300 C.-Y. Huang, Y.-L. Chen / Materials and Design 91 (2016) 294–305

Fig. 8. The results of ballistic test of MCM and FGM.

Fig. 9. The microstructure of FGM after impact (dark: Al2O3, white: ZrO2).

addition, the compression wave was reflected as a tensile wave, expe-
diting the ceramic cracking and lowering the ballistic resistance of the
MCM plate. Fig. 12 indicates that the second layer plate (90% Al2O3/
10% ZrO2) of the MCM reaches a maximal internal energy at 30 μs,
8 μs earlier than that of the FGM. Table 3(a)-II shows that the amount
of transmitted energy increases with the transmission coefficient, in-
ducing the second ceramic layer plate of the MCM to undergo an early
fracture. When the projectile was still moving in the first ceramic
layer (100% Al2O3) at approximately 14 μs, the distribution of the stress
exerted on the second ceramic layer of the MCM was wider than that
exerted on the FGM (red area) (Fig. 13). The primary reason for this is
that the transmitted energy increases with the MCM transmission
coefficient. This phenomenon requires the second ceramic plate to
withstand fracturing induced by the transmission wave before the pro-
jectile reaches the second layer. The result is that the ballistic resistance
in the MCM diminishes. Fig. 14 indicated that FGM reaches a maximal
internal energy at 30 μs, 8 μs later than that of the FGM. The results im-
plied that the additives ZrO2 can increase the toughness of FGM, thus re-
ducing crack propagation and increasing the capability to withstand
bullet impact. The maximum internal energy of FGM was lower than
that of PCM (Fig. 14), however a maximum internal energy of AP bullet
was obtained when target was FGM (Fig. 15). The reason is that the
structure of FGM strengthens eroding effect on bullet, showing a supe-
rior ballistic resistance capability.
The penetration mechanism of the projectile can be described in
three phases [30]:

Fig. 10. The microstructure of MCM after impact.

 C.-Y. Huang, Y.-L. Chen / Materials and Design 91 (2016) 294–305 301

Fig. 11. Internal energy of the 100% Al2O3 layer. Fig. 14. Total internal energy of the ceramic layers.

Fig. 15. Internal energy of AP bullet.

Fig. 12. Internal energy of the 90% Al2O3/10% ZrO2 layer.
(1) The impact: After the projectile impacts the ceramic surface, the
effect of the incident and reflection waves causes interlacing ra-
dial and circumferential cracks in the ceramic front plate,
forming cone-shaped fracture areas on the front plate. The rear
plate is not yet affected by the compression effect of the ceramic
cone at this time.
(2) The projectile compresses the ceramic cone: As the projectile
compresses the ceramic cone, each fragment of the material is
crushed further at an accelerating speed. Part of the ceramic frag-
ments starts to flow in an opposite direction to the ballistic
trajectory and the diameter and thickness of the bottom area of
the ceramic cone decrease progressively. The compression
simultaneously affects the rear plate, which begins to deform.
(3) The projectile and remainder of the ceramic cone jointly impact
the rear plate: The projectile and remainder of the ceramic
cone travel at the same velocity, the ceramic cone ceases to
exert abrasion on the projectile, and the plastic deformation of
the rear plate increases. When the deformation reaches a certain
level, the rear plate fractures or is perforated.
The results obtained from the simulation of the FGM structure
(Fig. 16(a)) showed that because of the small difference in wave

Fig. 13. Distributive stress of a quarter model in LS-DYNA.

302 C.-Y. Huang, Y.-L. Chen / Materials and Design 91 (2016) 294–305

Fig. 16. Distributive stress of ceramic composite materials in LS-DYNA.

impedance, the reflection coefficient decreased considerably and exhib-
ited a systematic descent with the transmission coefficient. This caused
the impact energy to be transferred in a graded state and the stress to
fracture the ceramic, forming the ceramic cone. Therefore, the FGM
structure can promote the formation of a complete ceramic cone after
the ceramic is penetrated by the projectile, thus stopping the projectile
from advancing and enhancing ballistic resistance. Regarding the MCM,
the adhesive layer induces an extremely high reflection coefficient and a
strongly increasing or decreasing transmission coefficient. Each ceramic
plate layer must endure a complex interaction effect of reflection and
transmission intensity. According to the simulation results depicted in
Fig. 16(b), the stress fracture distribution of the ceramic layers did not
exhibit a graded transfer. The impact stress caused every layer to frac-
ture, hindering the formation of a complete ceramic cone after the
MCM is penetrated by the projectile and consequently diminishing the
MCM's ballistic resistance.

Fig. 17. The ceramic cone of PCM, FGM and MCM after impact.
 C.-Y. Huang, Y.-L. Chen / Materials and Design 91 (2016) 294–305 303

Fig. 18. Fracture of PCM, FGM and MCM after impact.

Fig. 19. Comparison of ceramic cone semi-angle of PCM, FGM and MCM.

The stress distribution (Fig. 16(c) and (d)) showed that the ceramic
cone was formed earlier in the PCM than it was in the FGM. The stress
fracture distribution in the PCM was also greater than that in the FGM,
indicating that the ceramic cracking was more severe in the PCM than
it was in the FGM. After 36 μs, the stress fracturing began to decrease
in the PCM, indicating that the ceramic cone had already entered the
second phase because the projectile was continuously moving and in-
ducing the ceramic cone to crack early. At 44 μs (Fig. 16), the abrasion
exerted on the projectile by the PCM was considerably lower than that
exerted by the FGM. The semi-angle variation of ceramic cone is about
63°–68° [31–33]. Through measuring top and bottom diameters of ce-
ramic cone of the three specimens (Fig. 17 and Fig. 18), the semi-
angle of those ceramic cones was obtained after calculation, i.e. 66° for
PCM, 61.5° for FGM and 40° for MCM (Fig. 19). The values of PCM and
FGM close to those shown in references. The stress distribution in sim-
ulation is matching with the ceramic cone angles (Fig. 20). Due to adhe-
sive effect of MCM, the forming ceramic cone angle is small. The
experimental results (Fig. 18) signified that the ceramic cracking was
more severe in the PCM (average sizes 16 mm) than it was in the
FGM (average sizes 23.7 mm). The small fragments of PCM reduce its re-
sistant capability under impact. Because the ZrO2 can increase tough-
ness of FGM, the average fragments size of FGM is larger than that of
PCM, resulting in a smaller ceramic cone angle. Because the graded
structure of the FGM delayed the ceramic cone formation after impact,
the development of the radial and circumferential cracks was also
reduced, which may increase the abrasion effect between the ce-
ramic and the projectile and increase the ceramic cone's ability to
impede the projectile's advance. The deformation area of alumi-
num backing plate is proportional to the ceramic cone angle. Refer-
ring to Fig. 21, the deformation area of backing plate is in the
following sequence: PCM N FGM N MCM. The stress distribution of
aluminum backing plates is compatible with deformation areas
(Fig. 22). Overall, the ballistic resistance of the FGM was superior
to that of PCM and MCM.
6. Conclusion
In this paper, we used experiment and simulation to study the
impact resistance capability of Al 2 O 3 /ZrO 2 FGM and compared
with that of MCM and PCM. The results confirmed that the FGM
demonstrated optimal energy absorption experiencing impact.
Through investigation and theoretical explanation, several com-
ments can be given in following.

Fig. 20. Stress distribution of PCM, FGM and MCM.

304 C.-Y. Huang, Y.-L. Chen / Materials and Design 91 (2016) 294–305
Fig. 21. Deformation area of backing plates of PCM, FGM and MCM.
Fig. 22. Stress distribution of backing plates of PCM, FGM and MCM.
(1) The FGM structure can avoid delamination and increase the abra-
sive effect of each ceramic layer on the projectile, improving im-
pact resistance.
(2) The FGM structure can delay ceramic cone formation and reduce
circumferential and radial crack propagation, maintaining the in-
tegrity of the ceramic plate.
(3) The FGM structure can enable all layers to exhibit similar wave
impedance, reducing the interaction effect of the reflection
wave and the transmission wave.
(4) Under same thickness or areal density, FGM showed optimal
ballistic resistance capability when compared with MCM and
PCM.
(5) Ceramic–metal composite is widely used to resist ballistic
impact. Furthermore, present study confirmed that a ceram-
ic–ceramic FGM design can improve impact resistance. There-
fore, mixture of high-hardness and high-toughness ceramics
can be used in future FGM design and manufacture.
Acknowledgments
We thank all the graduate students in the ballistic laboratory for
their wholehearted support in the experimental tests and material
manufacturing process.
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