Uncertainty Quantification of Material Properties in Ballistic Impact of Magnesium Alloys

TL;DR

This paper presents a computational framework to quantify how uncertainties in material properties affect the ballistic performance of magnesium alloys, aiding safer design and development of lightweight impact-resistant materials.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to assess the impact of material uncertainties on ballistic performance, including probabilistic failure bounds, specifically applied to AZ31B magnesium alloys.

Findings

Uncertainty in model parameters significantly influences ballistic performance.

The framework identifies key parameters affecting failure probability.

Insights guide material improvement and model development for Mg alloys.

Abstract

The design and development of cutting-edge light materials for extreme conditions including high-speed impact remains a continuing and significant challenge in spite of steady advances. Magnesium (Mg) and its alloys have gained much attention, due to their high strength-to-weight ratio and potential of further improvements in material properties such as strength and ductility. In this paper, we adopt a recently developed computational framework to quantify the effects of material uncertainties on the ballistic performance of Mg alloys. The framework is able to determine the largest deviation in the performance measure resulting from a finite variation in the corresponding material properties. It can also provide rigorous upper bounds on the probability of failure using known information about uncertainties and the system, and then conservative safety design and certification can be achieved. We specifically focus on AZ31B Mg alloys, and assume that the material is well-characterized by the Johnson-Cook constitutive and failure models, but the model parameters are uncertain. We determine the ordering of uncertainty contributions for model parameters and the corresponding behavior regimes where those parameters play a crucial role. Finally, we show that how this ordering provides insight on the improvement of ballistic performance and the development of new material models for Mg alloys.