Ceramic Armor Materials By Design

This proceedings book brings together 55 papers on ceramic armor presented by authorities from around the world covering topics such as ceramic armor development, processing, manufacturing, and insertion. This book will be of great interest to armor researchers in university, industry and government laboratories as well as those industries involved in ceramic armor and high performance structural ceramics. Papers were presented at PacRim IV, An International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Glasses, Wailea, Maui, Hawaii, USA (2001). 650 pages.

This volume includes the latest achievements in the area of ceramic armor systems including ceramic armor design and modeling, ceramic armor materials and composites development and manufacturing, physical properties and structures of armor ceramics, fracture mechanisms of armor ceramics and composites, and ballistic testing and performance of ceramic armor systems. Proceedings of the symposium held at the 105th Annual Meeting of The American Ceramic Society, April 27-30, 2003, in Nashville, Tennessee; Ceramic Transactions, Volume 151.

This book is a compilation of recent papers on ceramic armor that have been published in ACerS Ceramic Engineering and Science Proceedings (CESP) and Ceramic Transactions (CT) volumes. This collection of papers on current research and development will serve as a solid reference resource for those involved in this field.

Armor plays a significant role in the protection of warriors. During the course of history, the introduction of new materials and improvements in the materials already used to construct armor has led to better protection and a reduction in the weight of the armor. But even with such advances in materials, the weight of the armor required to manage threats of ever-increasing destructive capability presents a huge challenge. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications explores the current theoretical and experimental understanding of the key issues surrounding protection materials, identifies the major challenges and technical gaps for developing the future generation of lightweight protection materials, and recommends a path forward for their development. It examines multiscale shockwave energy transfer mechanisms and experimental approaches for their characterization over short timescales, as well as multiscale modeling techniques to predict mechanisms for dissipating energy. The report also considers exemplary threats and design philosophy for the three key applications of armor systems: (1) personnel protection, including body armor and helmets, (2) vehicle armor, and (3) transparent armor. Opportunities in Protection Materials Science and Technology for Future Army Applications recommends that the Department of Defense (DoD) establish a defense initiative for protection materials by design (PMD), with associated funding lines for basic and applied research. The PMD initiative should include a combination of computational, experimental, and materials testing, characterization, and processing research conducted by government, industry, and academia.

The Science of Armour Materials comprehensively covers the range of armor materials from steels and light alloys, through glasses and ceramics, to fibers, textiles, and protective apparel. The book also discusses aspects of analytical and numerical modeling, as well as laboratory-based high-strain rate testing and ballistic testing methodologies. Each chapter is written from an international perspective, including reviews of the current global literature, and incorporates case studies that focus upon real life applications, research outcomes, and lessons learned. The threat spectrum is restricted to small arms ammunition, high velocity fragments, and stab and spike attacks, as well as blast loadings. Features input from an editor who is an expert in his field: Dr. Ian Crouch, the author of over 80 publications in his field, with three patents to his name Provides systematic and comprehensive coverage of armor materials, modeling, and testing Offers a cross-disciplinary approach that brings together expertise in materials science and defense engineering Discusses aspects of analytical and numerical modeling, as well as laboratory-based high-strain rate testing and ballistic testing methodologies