Behaviour of a commercial wired glass under low energy ballistic impact

Abstract

Α study of the ballistic impact resistance of a commercial wired glass has been undertaken using a gas gun capable of velocities up to 400 m s-1. The projectile was a steel ball and impact energies up to 7.32 J were used. The extent of the impact damage was assessed by the mass of ejected material, the area of the Hertzian cone left by the impact and residual strength. Crack morphologies similar to those reported in monolithic glasses were observed, namely ring, cone and radial cracks. The impact energy dependencies of the mass of ejected material and cone area were similar showing a rapid increase at energies above about 4.35 J. In contrast, the residual strength remained at 20 % or less of the as received wired glass irrespective of impact energy. This was attributed to the wire mesh remaining intact for the ballistic impact conditions investigated.