High-rate penetration of a striker into SiC ceramic with different void content

The kinetics of penetration of deformable striking rods into SiC ceramics with different void content is studied. The penetration may be viewed as a two-stage process. At the first stage, the penetration rate is minimal and the rate of contraction of the rod is maximal. At this stage, the penetration resistance of the ceramic is the highest. At the second (quasi-steady-state) stage, the penetration kinetics is similar to the kinetics of penetration into a zero-strength medium and resistance to penetration is largely inertial. At the first stage, the penetration resistance is shown to correlate with the hardness of the ceramic and depend strongly on the void content.