Processing Multi-Phase Ceramic Composites for Vehicular Survivability

摘要

In the past, the most capable armor was heavy and developed for main battle tanks weighing 50 tons or more. The increasingly changing state of global politics requires rapid deployment of a military force anywhere in the world. Rapid deployment dictates that the best armor be available for lightweight military vehicles. The urgency to deploy Army's Future Combat System has challenged the armor materials community to employ non-traditional materials to meet operational space, weight and logistic constraints. Monolithic ceramics such as alumina (Al2O3), boron carbide (B4C), silicon carbide (SiC), tungsten carbide (WC) and titanium diboride (TiB2), incorporated as armor system components, effectively defeat kinetic energy threats. However, advancing monolithic ceramics through efforts in two, parallel but related areas of investigation: encapsulation in metal and the creation of multi-phase ceramic composites provide the opportunity to improve ballistic performance while saving weight and cost. Insights gained from encapsulation and multi- phase ceramic studies form the basis for the current direction in processing multi-phase ceramic composites for vehicular survivability.