Inconsistency of Threat Level in Soft Armour Standards, Correlation of Experimental Tests to Bullet X-ray 3d Images

Fundamental to any ballistic armour standard is the reference projectile that is to be defeated. Typically, for certification, consistency of bullet geometry is assumed. Therefore, practical variations in bullet jacket dimensions can have far reaching consequences. Traditionally, internal dimensions have been analysed by physically sectioning bullets – an approach which rules out any subsequent ballistic assessment. The use of a non-destructive X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) method was demonstrated in [1]. Now, the authors apply this technique to correlate bullet impact response to jacket thickness variations. A set of 20 bullets (9 mm DM 11) was selected to analyse both intra and inter bullet variations using an image based analysis method to map the jacket thickness and measure the centre of gravity. Thickness variations of the order of 200μm were found commonly across all the bullets along the length and an angular variation of up to 50μm was found in a few bullets. The bullets were subsequently impacted against a rigid flat plate and re-scanned. The results of the experiments are shown and compared to the undeformed bullet jacket thickness variations. The conclusions are relevant for future soft armour standards and provide important data for numerical model correlation and development.