Armor Processing (Army)
Abstract
The Army is looking to evaluate personal body armor, small arm protective inserts (SAPI), fabricated by new isostatic and high pressure processing technique. This prototype process has had very promising results and has the potential to reduce the weight and improve the ballistic performance of personal body armor at a lower cost. The current SAPI plates are made by conventional processing techniques which use low pressure autoclave to bond ceramic tiles and high performance fiber composites together. The fiber composite materials are processed separately using hot press prior to the final bonding process. This production method cannot provide uniform high pressure throughout the entire processing and therefore, the ballistic performance of current SAPI plates is not optimized. The proposed technology has demonstrated the capability to provide absolute uniform and high pressure for the entire process and also to combine fiber composite consolidation and plate integration into a one-step process. This technology will maximize the bonding strength between fiber composite layers and between composite and the ceramic which will significantly improve the ballistic performance of SAPI plates. Uniform and high pressure processing technology will also dramatically reduce the performance variation which will provide more trade space for weight reduction. The technology developed provides a new manufacturing technique that is unique and unavailable from domestic sources.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2015
- Source ID
- 5812d75b203400c4f14c34923994b309