Ceramic Tank Armour

In hard armor with ceramic inserts the kinetic energy of the projectile is absorbed and dissipated in localized shattering of this ceramic tile and blunting of the bullet material during its impact on the hard ceramic.

Ceramic tank armour. Most ceramic composite body armor plates cannot withstand multiple hits to the same area. The strongest and lightest ceramic is boron carbide. Ceramic composite armor plates are placed in body armor plate carriers and worn to protect against bullets projectiles fragmentation shrapnel and stab threats. Thus it is necessary that the ceramic material presents high elastic modulus and high hardness 2.

Ceramic armor can be used to protect vehicles as well as individual personnel and dates back to 1918. The most common ceramic materials used for armor applications are alumina boron carbide silicon carbide and titanium diboride. Ceramics are often used where light weight is important as they weigh less than metal alloys for a given degree of resistance. Ceramic armor is armor used by armored vehicles and in personal armor to resist projectile penetration through high hardness and compressive strength.

The name has since become the common generic term for composite ceramic vehicle armour. Ceramic materials for using as ballistic armor must be sufficiently rigid to fragment the bullet and reduce its speed transforming it into small fragments that should be stopped by the layer of flexible material that supports the ceramic. Ceramics offer an advantage over steel in weight reduction and over all metals in impact energy absorption. Ceramic armor is armor used by armored vehicles and in personal armor for its attenuative properties.

The ceramic material can absorb a lot of heat as well as heavy physical blows. Ceramics are known to be some of the of the hardest materials and unlike materials such as kevlar which uses its fibers to catch the bullet ceramics break the bullet. Ceramic material shatters as the heat round penetrates the highly energetic fragments destroying the geometry of the metal jet generated by the hollow shaped charge greatly diminishing the. The core armor is a variation on the british chobham armor an arrangement of metal plates ceramic blocks and open space.

Composite armor plates are lighter thicker and more flexible than steel plates. Chobham armour is the informal name of a composite armour developed in the 1960s at the british tank research centre on chobham common surrey.