Boron Carbide-Silicon Carbide Laminated Ceramics for Ballistic Protection

Abstract

The paper describes the development of tough boron carbide-silicon carbide ceramic laminates with enhanced ballistic performance for armor application. Laminates with strong interfaces can provide high fracture toughness and damage tolerance along with improved ballistic protection. The enhancement of the mechanical/ballistic performance of laminates is obtained through design of controlled residual stresses in separate layers. The research produced a fundamental knowledge of the interrelationships between processing, residual stresses, and mechanical behavior of boron carbide based multilayered ceramic composites with an enhanced understanding of laminate’s fracture toughness, strength, and Young’s modulus. It was expected that the newly developed laminates would have necessary mechanical properties to increase maximum critical velocity of dwell/penetration transition during impact experiments.