Experimental study of multiple interior impacts

In this paper, experiments involving interior impacts on soft, lead targets are described. The term “interior impact” refers to the impact of a projectile at the bottom of a predrilled hole in the target. It is known that impact of low-velocity projectiles into such soft targets results in plastic flow and cavities similar to those obtained in high-velocity impact of hard targets. Therefore, comparatively simple rifle-propelled projectile impacts on soft targets may yield useful information for high-speed hard-target impacts. Double impacts with a short-time interval, on the order of microseconds, between projectile arrivals were conducted. The leading projectile creates a plastic flow in the target which partially seals the entrance hole. The trailing projectile must first force open the passage hole before achieving additional penetration. The total penetration was measured for different time intervals between the projectiles. A method was developed to obtain double impacts at the same point. The method utilizes a duplex round, which is made up of two separate projectiles fired from the same cartridge. With this round, a series of impact experiments was conducted. It was learned that occlusion, or the close up of the hole, is negligible for nearly simultaneous projectiles (less than 10 μs between impacts), and greatest with about 80 to 100 μs between impacts. The projectile velocity was measured by the use of properly placed photodiodes.