Non-Destructive X-ray Evaluation and Gap Measurement of Ceramic Armor Plate

Abstract Ceramic armors are usually made of a close-fitting periodic array of ceramic tiles, and have gaps between the tiles. The ballistic performance of the ceramic armor is highly affected by the gap width and it is important to find a way to inspect and evaluate it with no destruction. So the gaps of two ceramic armor plates, which were respectively made through hot-press vulcanization machine and autoclave system, were inspected and measured by a non-destructive X-ray evaluation method. But because of the magnification effect of the X-ray method, the measured gap width was not real. So that, it is critical to find the relation between the actual gap width with the measured. Though analysis of the magnification effect of X-ray inspection, we proposed a formula between the two, and calculated the actual gap width of the two different armor plates. It could be concluded that the autoclave method was better, with mean gap width was only 34% of that hot-press vulcanization machine made.