Lockheed Martin UK [LMT] and researchers at the University of Surrey have developed a new lighter-weight method of improving the protection and survivability of armored vehicles, such as those used in operational environments by the U.K. army and special forces.
Ceramic materials, increasingly replacing steel in armor plating to protect vehicles and their crews from the effects of attack are extremely resistant to penetration by hostile weaponry while weighing less than traditional armor plating.
But a problem facing manufacturers has been that advantages in improved protection and lighter-weight have been compromised by a weakness in the adhesive bonding connecting ceramic plates to their backing. This has rendered the approach less robust than traditional metallic armor.
Now University of Surrey scientists have developed a method of treating the ceramic materials to improve the bond strength of both aluminia and silicon carbide ceramics to the composite backing. This greatly enhances the robustness of the protective armor to better meet operational needs in hostile environments.
“Although ceramic armor has a great number of advantages over other protection methods, there are still some challenges” said Andrew Harris, engineering doctorate research engineer at the University.
“Our relationship with Lockheed Martin has enabled us to develop a method of treating the ceramic to considerably improve the effectiveness of ceramic armor plating,” Harris said. “Key to achieving a step change in performance, proven in tests, has been the preconditioning of the ceramic surfaces, prior to bonding onto the support structure.”
Steve Burnage, head of design at LMUK’s Ampthill facility, said, “The reduction in weight of armored vehicles is an increasingly important requirement for the Army as it looks for the ability to more rapidly deploy an agile force into regions of conflict.”
Results have shown that using the technique on alumina and silicon carbide surfaces leads to increased bond strength. The tests revealed that when a 14.5mm armor piercing incendiary was fired at the panel it remained intact under a multi-hit environment.
In addition to military vehicles, the technology has potential in areas such as space systems where ceramic tiles are used to protect vehicles against the effects of atmospheric reentry.