Behaviour of uniaxially preloaded aluminium plates subjected to high-velocity impact

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the behaviour of structural thin plates made of 7075-T6 aluminium alloy under normal impact of spherical steel projectiles, when they are subjected to uniaxial in-plane tensile preload. Also, nonloaded plates were tested under high-velocity impact. The impact and residual velocity were measured in all tests. From the relationships between the impact and residual velocities, the ballistic limit was estimated by a least-squares method. No significant differences were found between the ballistic limits under the two loaded conditions. Above the ballistic limit in the preloaded plates, unstable cracks that can generate the catastrophic failure of the plate were observed. At similar velocities, this phenomenon was not observed in nonloaded plates.