Scientists Develop Ceramic-based Body Armor for Warfighters

Applications

• Military and Commercial Significance:
• In order to stop an assault rifle bullet, armor must have properties that will crack or blunt the point of a bullet. The material must also have fiber backing that will catch bullet fragments and absorb the pressure wave generated when a bullet strikes the armor. The development of ceramic materials that retain high hardness, even in the shapes required for body armor applications, is a daunting task. All current SAPI plates are composed of press-sintered ceramic materials, which are very hard but make the strike plates heavier and more fragile than desirable.
• AFRL teamed with Excera Materials Group, Inc., of Columbus, Ohio, in this effort. The group used the Edison Materials Technology Center Cooperative Technology Exchange program, the Navy Phase II Small Business Innovation Research program, and AFRL funding to develop a prototype SAPI strike plate that exceeds the US Army’s performance standards for fielded applications. AFRL’s Second Lieutenant T.J. Turner spearheaded a cost-effective, rapid effort to develop the body armor using geometric means to stop a bullet. He proposed creating a lightweight, layered composite panel with angled external tiles that would cause bullets to tumble and stop instead of piercing armor plating on tanks and aircraft. AFRL’s program became an effort to develop a lighter-weight, metal-infused ceramic laminate for soldiers’ battlefield flak vests.