Materials used in armor have come a long way from the early metals to the recent high-performance bulletproof materials. Attempts on the use and improvement of various materials have never stopped.
For many years, armors were produced using various metals and alloys. Until recent years, the emergency of high-performance materials and super strong ceramic synthetic materials has brought great changes in the bulletproof industries. They are gradually replacing traditional metals as the mainstream materials for making bullet-proof equipment in the bulletproof products field. Ceramic armor can be used to protect vehicles as well as individual personnel. Ceramics are known to be some of the of the hardest materials, whose application dates to 1918, and unlike materials such as Kevlar (which uses its fibers to "catch" the bullet), ceramics break the bullet at the moment the impact happens. Ceramic plates are usually used as inserts in soft ballistic vests.
Ceramic Plate
The commercially manufactured ceramics for armor include materials such as boron carbide, aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, titanium boride, aluminum nitride, and Syndite (synthetic diamond composite). Alumina, silicon carbide and boron carbide are the most common ceramic materials used to make ceramic inserts on the market, among which the boron carbide is the strongest and lightest, and accordingly the most expensive. Boron carbide composites are primarily used for ceramic plates to protect against smaller projectiles, and are used in body armor and armored helicopters. Silicon carbide is a more widely used ceramic composite bullet-proof insert material because of its more moderate price, similar density and hardness to boron carbide, and is primarily used to protect against larger projectiles.
In addition, in the current bullet-proof industry, some ceramic processing technology such as sintering, reaction bonding and hot pressing has been developed.
Ceramic Units
The mechanical properties of a few types of ceramic armors are displayed in the table below:
|
Ceramic Armor |
Grain Size (µm) |
Density (g/cc) |
Knoop Hardness (100g load)-Kg/mm2 |
Compressive Strength @ RT (MPa x 106 lb/in2) |
Modulus of Elasticity @RT (GPa x 106 b/in2) |
Poisson Ratio |
Fracture Toughness @ RT MPa xm1/2 x103 lb/in2 /in 1/2 |
|
Hexoloy® Sintered |
4-10
|
3.13 |
2800 |
3900 560 |
410 59 |
0.14 |
4.60-4.20 |
|
Saphikon® Sapphire |
N/A |
3.97 |
2200 |
2000 |
435 |
0.27-0.30 |
N/A |
|
Norbide® Hot Pressed |
8 |
2.51 |
2800 |
3900 560 |
440 |
0.18 |
3.1 |
In summary, we can find that ceramic composite bulletproof plates, as the mainstream of plates on the current market, have the following advantages over traditional metal plates:
Of course, ceramic material has some defects, for example, the structure and property of the ceramic plate determine that it will crack after being hit by a bullet, meaning that the same spot cannot resist a second bullet. Therefore, you should keep in mind that never to wear a ceramic plate that have been hit by bullets, which properly fails to protect our safety. In addition, most of the ceramic plates are mosaic made of ceramic pieces, so the joint always has a weaker protective capability, cannot provide comprehensive protection like the metal plate or pure bulletproof fiber plates.
If you want to buy bulletproof plates, welcome to contact us. Newtech has been long dedicated to the development and research of bulletproof equipment, we provide quality NIJ III PE Hard Armor Plates and NIJ IIIA vests, as well as many other products. When considering the purchase of protective products, you can visit the website of Newtech to find the best one for yourself.
