Perforation experiments on HY-100 steel plates with 4340 Rc 38 and maraging T-250 steel rod projectiles

We conducted perforation experiments with 4340 R_c 38 and maraging T-250 steel, long rod projectiles and HY-100 steel target plates at striking velocities between 80 and 370 m/s. Flat-end rod projectiles with lengths of 89 and 282 mm were machined to nominally 30-mm-diameter so they could be launched from a 30-mm-powder gun without sabots. The target plates were rigidly clamped at a 305-mm-diameter and had nominal thicknesses of 5.3 and 10.5 mm. Four sets of experiments were conducted to show the effects of rod length and plate thickness on the measured ballistic limit and residual velocities. In addition to measuring striking and residual projectile velocities, we obtained framing camera data on the back surfaces of several plates that showed clearly the plate deformation and plug ejection process.