Development overview of bulletproof ceramics

An overview,

Ceramic material has the advantages of high hardness and light weight, and its defense ability against kinetic energy projectile and ammunition fragments is very strong. Now, it has become a kind of protective armor widely used in body armor, vehicles and aircraft equipment. The ceramic composite armour is resistant to conventional ammunition, as well as neutron bombs and anti-tank missiles. The early use of ceramic armour dates back to 1918, after the end of world War I. Although the discovery of ceramic materials was early, their widespread military use did not begin until the 1970s.

Two, bullet-proof mechanism

At the moment when the warhead hits the ceramic armor, the overpressure shock wave generated by the impact spreads along the ceramic armor and the warhead, causing damage to both of them. When the overpressure shock wave spreads to the interface between the ceramic layer and the lining layer, it has more damage. Most ceramic armor is bonded with a viscous polymer of low hardness and low density between the liner. When the overpressure shock wave propagates to the interface between ceramic and polymer adhesive layer, the overpressure shock wave produces strong tensile action and destroys the ceramic layer, while the strong shear action destroys the polymer adhesive layer. The ceramic layer is separated from the lining layer under tensile and shear action. At the same time, the warhead crumbles under pressure. A conical fracture zone will form around the impact site.

The hardness of the ceramic prevents the warhead from penetrating the armor. High hardness ceramics can produce a large reaction force on the warhead, reducing the speed of the warhead.

3. Cut a figure

Ceramic armor has good performance. The main battle tanks of various military powers mostly use ceramic composite armor. Examples such as the British "Chivotan" tank, the American XM-1 tank and the German Leopard-2 tank all used composite armour containing ceramic materials. The ceramic composite armour is resistant to conventional ammunition, as well as neutron bombs and anti-tank missiles. Among the protective equipment, the body armor and bulletproof vest made of special ceramic materials are only 60 to 70 percent of the weight of steel, but their strength can reach three to four times that of steel, and can resist the shooting of various small weapons.

Four, protection application

Alumina ceramics. Last century 80's, began to use alumina ceramic protection plate production of human body armor. Subsequently, the investment of various countries to enhance the performance of alumina ceramics is very large, but the enhancement of its protective performance is limited.

Boron carbide ceramics. Boron carbide ceramics have a high hardness and an amazing price. Therefore, this kind of ceramic is only used for some occasions with higher requirements for protective performance. The downside of boron carbide is that it is less than ideal for protecting high-speed warheads with high-density cores. This is due to the high hardness and high speed bullet impact boron carbide ceramics will change its physical properties.

Silicon carbide ceramics. Silicon carbide ceramics have high hardness, strong impact resistance and other excellent characteristics. Silicon carbide ceramics are fired at high temperature (up to 2000℃) under high pressure conditions to obtain high strength, its strength is much greater than the warhead, the warhead immediately after the impact of fragmentation to release its kinetic energy. This kind of ceramic has a good protective effect on small arms ammunition and stabilizer demoulding armor-piercing projectile, and the price is relatively low. At the beginning of the 21st century, the United States will develop it into a high performance bulletproof material instead of alumina ceramic equipment troops.