Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Heidenreich, B
• Lexow, B

Titel

Melt Infiltrated Ceramics for Lightweight Armour Systems

Ist Teil von

• Keramische Zeitschrift, 2003-10, Vol.55 (10), p.794-798

Erscheinungsjahr

2003

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Ceramic armour systems offer excellent protection against armour piercing ammunition, coupled with a significantly lower area density than conventional steel or aluminium armour systems. The main disadvantages of the commonly used monolithic ceramic tiles include high costs and insufficient protection against multiple hits. Although various ceramic matrix composites (CMC) have been successfully tested with a view to improving multiple hit performance, they have been unable to establish themselves in practice because they are even more expensive than monolithic ceramics. This paper introduces a new approach with more favourably priced C/C-SiC materials, which have been developed by the DLR via LSI (liquid silicon infiltration), a relatively short and therefore cost-effective process. In a first screening test, the ballistic performance of different carbon fiber (CF) reinforced C/C-SiC materials and one biomorphic SiSiC against 7.62 mm x 51 mm AP were studied. The monolithic SiSiC material showed good single hit properties, comparable with conventional ceramic armour systems. Carbon fiber reinforced C/C-SiC materials exhibited a lower ballistic efficiency but were distinctly superior in terms of their fracture behaviour.