Advanced Materials Manufacturing - Advanced Body Armor
Abstract
While current body armor is effective, it is too heavy for some threats, environments, and operations. Even a 10% reduction in system weight would significantly increase warfighter acceptance, mobility, agility, and endurance. This effort will leverage prior DoD investments to mature three complimentary manufacturing technologies that will reduce body armor weight by 10%-15% while improving ballistic performance and flexibility. Cost will be reduced 5%-10% and cycle time will be reduced by 10X-20X. The project will mature three manufacturing technologies for lighter weight armor from a capability to produce the technologies in a laboratory to a capability to produce them in an environment representative of a production facility. The three technologies are: 1) Dissimilar Material Assembly Technology to integrate ceramic, polymer adhesives, composites, and other organic and inorganic constituents into a unified body armor system. 2) Co-consolidation processing, to reduce cost and cycle time for the production of composite material enabling 10% lighter armor while maintaining ballistic performance. 3) Multi-scale modification of ballistic ceramics and associated processes, which will include new additive processes and metallic substrates to improve ballistic integrity and manage adverse shock events due to ballistic impact.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2015
- Source ID
- 8527e89fa2f6cf954a845d864d6e8d64