Depth of penetration testing

The Depth of Penetration (DOP) test has been widely used for many years for ranking the protective value of materials, most notably ceramics. This is essentially a simple and straightforward test with definitive results.In practice however, a significant number of factors must be taken into account to achieve reliable and comparable results. Often, published results cannot be utilised to augment other data sets as insufficient detail is given to allow the necessary correction or normalisation to be made. The aim of this paper is to provide details of the DOP measurement system devised at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratories, Chertsey, UK and to present the methodology for correction and normalisation of the data. Guidelines will be given for choice of configuration of the target assembly.