PERFORMANCE OF ENCAPSULATED CERAMIC SPHERES COMPARED TO A MONOLITHIC CERAMIC PLATE - Video Portal
PERFORMANCE OF ENCAPSULATED CERAMIC SPHERES COMPARED TO A MONOLITHIC CERAMIC PLATE
Jarrod M. Robinson, MAJ, USMC
Current personal protection systems used by US forces incorporate monolithic ceramic plates. The application of monolithic ceramic plates as an armor system has issues related to fracture from mishandling, limited multi-hit capability and weight. A proposed replacement for the monolithic plates is a single layer ceramic sphere matrix. To quantify the performance of ceramic spheres as a front-face armor system, a technique to measure the work exerted on a projectile by different ceramic sphere configurations is presented. The measured work performed by the ceramic sphere systems will be compared to monolithic ceramic plate performance. Variables including ceramic sphere chemistry, size and encapsulations were studied on a mass efficiency basis. Overall performance for each of the ceramic sphere systems will be presented and compared to current armor systems.